RIP Trevor Francis

[Undercoverinwurzelland]

Has died today aged 69.
Football's first £1million player

[life on mars]

Re: RIP Trevor Francis

Gosh Gary Bell knows him well he once shared with us they played together as youngsters

[the other bob wilson]

Re: RIP Trevor Francis

Has died today aged 69.
Football's first £1million player

He not only made his debut for Birmingham as a sixteen year old at Ninian Park, he also scored in the first few minutes of the return game at St Andrews seven months in front of a near fifty thousand crowd - it’s a reminder of your own mortality when a player you remember being nicknamed “Superkid” has died.

RIP

[BLUETIT]

Re: RIP Trevor Francis

I remember that “superkid” chant, as if it was yesterday.

I was with my brother in the stand behind the goal

RIP

[the other bob wilson]

Re: RIP Trevor Francis

Gosh Gary Bell knows him well he once shared with us they played together as youngsters

Are you sure Gary Bell said that? He was seven years older than Trevor Francis. It was Bell who marked Francis when he came on at Ninian Park for his debut in August 1970. I was surprised to hear Francis say somewhere that Bell was “a perfect gentleman” that day, because, while I wouldn’t call him a dirty player, he’d let the winger he was marking know he was around.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Re: RIP Trevor Francis

Great player

Plymouth boy

[Mr Soul '68]

Re: RIP Trevor Francis

He not only made his debut for Birmingham as a sixteen year old at Ninian Park, he also scored in the first few minutes of the return game at St Andrews seven months in front of a near fifty thousand crowd - it’s a reminder of your own mortality when a player you remember being nicknamed “Superkid” has died.

RIP

Was that August Bank Holiday on a very hot Saturday in 1970? If so, I was there for that game

[the other bob wilson]

Re: RIP Trevor Francis

Was that August Bank Holiday on a very hot Saturday in 1970? If so, I was there for that game

Yes it was - we won 2-0 with Toshack getting them both.

[79blue]

Re: RIP Trevor Francis

His Forest team mate Peter Shilton was also the highest paid player at the time, earning £1,200 a week. The average non manual income per week was then £113, 9.5% of Shiltons wage. Compare that with today with Gabriel Jesus salary of £13,780,000 or 265,000 a week against the average weekly wage of £534, which is 0.2% of Jesus wage.

[SOXY BOY]

Re: RIP Trevor Francis

That’s really sad news, I remember he scored the winning goal for Forest against Malmo, in the European Cup, it was then.

[Mr Soul '68]

Re: RIP Trevor Francis

Yes it was - we won 2-0 with Toshack getting them both.

I'd just turned eleven. I can remember the police outside Ninian Park making all the skinheads take off their Dr Marten boots and a huge pile ensued, and sporadic trouble trouble breaking out on the Bob Bank. Also a huge guy, well he seemed huge to me at eleven years old, walking topless along Sloper Rd, in front of us with the names of the City team of a season or two previous tattooed on his back. Sat in the Canton Stand with my dad for the game.

R.I.P. Trevor

[Vindec]

Re: RIP Trevor Francis

I saw both games home and away that season. The away match was memorable because the crowd was so large and the bloke behind urinated over my wife.

[Hot Shot Hamish.]

Re: RIP Trevor Francis

Yes it was - we won 2-0 with Toshack getting them both.

That was my first ever City game. My second was Hull when Tosh scored a hat trick, and then he was gone. Twice I saw him play and he bagged 5 goals. And that's why he's my all time hero.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Re: RIP Trevor Francis

I saw him score the goal that won the European Cup for Forest in Munich.

[Mr Soul '68]

Re: RIP Trevor Francis

That was my first ever City game. My second was Hull when Tosh scored a hat trick, and then he was gone. Twice I saw him play and he bagged 5 goals. And that's why he's my all time hero.

My first ever City hero, and still one of my all time favourite players in the 55 years I have been going down to watch the City