The first £1 million footballer - How Trevor Francis changed transfers forever

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 5 Feb 2026 09:37 CST
• 4 min read

Analysis

Nottingham Forest signing Trevor Francis is one of the most important football transfers of all time.

At FootballTransfers, we determine the importance of a deal based on influence, legacy or the huge impact it had on a particular club or indeed the sport as a whole.

It could be because of a record-breaking or history-making transfer fee. It could be a transfer that broke down a social, cultural or racial barrier. It could be a move that transformed the fortunes of a team and led to a period of dominance. It could be a transfer that simply transcended the sport.

In the case of Francis, he was a history-maker, becoming the first British player to be sold for a cool £1 million. Or 'only' £999,999 as the legend goes (more on that to come).

His blockbusting move from Birmingham City shocked the football world and reset the domestic transfer market in a big way. It didn't just break the British record - it smashed it, almost doubling the previous mark.

Why did Forest buy Trevor Francis?

Francis' father was a semi-professional footballer and it seemed clear that he would follow in those footsteps when he started banging in goals for fun as a young teenager. At 15 years old he joined Birmingham as a school leaver and from then on he rose up the ranks to play for the first-team.

English football was put on alert to this new talent when in 1970, aged just 16, he scored four goals in one game against Bolton. He was the youngest ever Birmingham player at that point and that record stood until it was broken by one Jude Bellingham.

He scored 15 goals in 22 games in his first professional season but due to his status as an apprentice, he was still forced to clean senior players' boots and sweep the stands.

After a goal-filled spell on loan in the National American Soccer League with Detroit Express, he returned to Birmingham before being targeted by legendary Forest boss Brian Clough, who had just guided the team to the First Division title in 1978.

The transfer

Francis wanted to leave Birmingham to win silverware and selected Forest ahead of Coventry as they were the "only team in England who could challenge Liverpool".

The fee itself was £999,999 but when taxes and commission were taken into account that amount was closer to £1.15m.

Clough, in particular, was keen to avoid that £1m label in order to alleviate pressure on the player as well as not allowing the price to go to the Francis' head.

Asked whether it would be a burden, Francis said at his unveiling: "I hope not. At the moment it certainly isn't, I'm quite excited about it. I realise when I get on that pitch I have to forget about it and just get on with playing."

Speaking of the unveiling, Clough turned up in an impatient mood, famously donning athletic gear as he was late for a game of squash.

Did the transfer work out?

In his first season at the club he established himself as a club legend, scoring the only goal of the game in the 1979 European Cup final against Malmo. It was actually his European debut for the club in the competition as he was ineligible to play until after the semi-final stage.

Thanks to a glorious John Robertson cross, he stooped low to send a diving header high into the net as Forest won 1-0 at the Olympiastadion in Munich.

Forest won the 1980 European Cup, too, but unfortunately for Francis he missed the final due to an Achilles issue that also kept him out of the 1980 European Championships with England.

In total, he scored 37 goals in 93 games for Forest and although he perhaps didn't fully live up to the price tag as Forest failed to win the First Division during his time at the club, he'll always be remembered fondly for that match-winner in 1980.

Legacy

Francis passed away in 2023 at the age of 69 and often looked back on his legacy as being the first £1m footballer.

“I played professional football for 23 years until I was 39,” he told The Guardian in 2019.

“I won European Cups with Nottingham Forest, I played 52 times over nine years for England, but whenever I go to a sporting occasion I’m always introduced as the first £1m footballer, as if that’s the only thing I achieved in my career.

“But do I feel proud of being the first £1m player? Absolutely.”

Francis' and Forest's legacy in this regard is that the cost of players continued to rise into the tens and then hundreds of millions in the subsequent decades.

Francis was the first £1m player, Jean-Pierre Papin was the first £10m (Marseille to Milan) and the first player to be sold for £100m or more was actually Neymar - and he went from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain for £200m!

Once that £1m barrier was broken, football never looked back.

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