Trevor John Francis was born on 19 April 1954 and is an English former footballer who played as a forward for a number of clubs in England, the United States, Italy, Scotland and Australia.
26 Facts About Trevor Francis
2.
Trevor Francis scored the winning goal for Forest in the 1979 European Cup final against Malmo.
3.
Trevor Francis won the European Cup again with the club the following year.
4.
Trevor Francis was an agile and skilful forward and joined Birmingham City as a schoolboy.
5.
Trevor Francis quickly rose in status, making his debut for Birmingham City's first team in 1970, aged just 16.
6.
Trevor Francis's talent was noted when, before his 17th birthday, he scored four goals in a match against Bolton Wanderers.
7.
Trevor Francis ended his first season with 15 goals from just 22 games.
8.
Trevor Francis negotiated a secondment from Birmingham in 1978 to play for the Detroit Express in the North American Soccer League, where he scored 22 goals in 19 league matches and was named to the NASL first XI alongside Franz Beckenbauer and Giorgio Chinaglia before returning home to the Midlands.
9.
Nottingham Forest retained the League Cup shortly afterwards, and made progress in the European Cup to the extent that they reached the semi-finals, at which point Trevor Francis was permitted by registration rules to take part.
10.
Trevor Francis had already begun to sprint into position, but even so he had to increase his pace in order to reach the cross as it dropped, and ended up throwing himself low at the ball.
11.
Trevor Francis connected with his head and the ball diverted powerfully into the roof of the net.
12.
Trevor Francis arguably did not achieve his full potential as a Forest player.
13.
Trevor Francis was in the side which lost the 1980 League Cup Final to Wolverhampton Wanderers, but missed the European Cup Final against Hamburg due to an injury to his Achilles tendon.
14.
Bond then issued an ultimatum: if Trevor Francis did not sign, Bond would resign.
15.
Trevor Francis made a promising start at the club, scoring two goals against Stoke City on his debut, but over the course of the season he was frequently injured.
16.
Trevor Francis returned to Britain in September 1987 to join Rangers under Graeme Souness, as part of his self-styled "English invasion" at Ibrox.
17.
Trevor Francis signed as a player for Queens Park Rangers in March 1988 and took over as player-manager in November 1988 when Jim Smith moved to Newcastle United.
18.
Trevor Francis was replaced as manager by Don Howe in November 1989 after a year in charge, with the club in danger of relegation.
19.
Trevor Francis played for England 52 times between 1977 and 1986 and scored 12 goals.
20.
Trevor Francis guided Wednesday to an excellent third-place finish in 1992.
21.
In 1994, Trevor Francis finally retired as a player, shortly before his 40th birthday.
22.
Trevor Francis was dismissed as manager a year later after Wednesday finished 13th in the Premiership.
23.
In February 1992, Trevor Francis brought former French international Eric Cantona back from the wilderness by inviting him for a trial at Sheffield Wednesday.
24.
However, as the snowy conditions meant that he could only evaluate Cantona on astroturf, Trevor Francis requested an extension to the trial to see whether Cantona could play on grass.
25.
Trevor Francis had a spell in charge of Crystal Palace, from November 2001 to April 2003.
26.
On 13 April 2012, Trevor Francis was reported to be recovering in hospital from a suspected heart attack.