Trevor Francis RIP

blue for life said:
A shocker! RIP. That was a great one season. People turned up just to see him! Think we had to sell him for financial reasons.
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I think he was sold to raise cash to pay for the pie crust roof on the main stand at Maine Road.

Sad news, sat in front of him on a flight back from Malaga a few years ago and didn't realise he was there until we stood up to get off.
A top quality player ahead of his time.
 
Rest in Peace, My Dad always spoke with reverance about Francis. Said he was a great player and it was a crying shame he left after just one season. Always came across as a clever and decent man in his media appearances I saw.
 
I remember that a building society opened a branch on Wilbraham Road in Chorlton in November 1981 and commemorated the occasion by having Trevor Francis make a personal appearance. Anyone who opened an account got a free photo taken with him, and I saved my dinner money for the day so that I could take advantage of the offer. He was extremely gracious to a nervous kid, so I always thought favourably of his character after that.

He was a truly wonderful player, too. We had some other fairly big names at the time, but the team really was markedly far worse during the third of our fixtures that Trevor missed through injury (plus one suspension after he was sent off at home to Everton). It disgusts me now as much as it did at the time that the utter **** Swales used Trevor Francis to advertise season tickets on Piccadilly Radio only to flog him off for a laughably cheap fee as soon as they stopped being on sale.

Francis's departure signalled the start of City ceasing to act like a proper big club, a stated of affairs that persisted for a distressingly long time. Still, even his spell with us didn't last long, it was a privilege to watch him in that season he spent with us. He was an absolute thoroughbred of a footballer and showed it pretty well whenever he took the field.
 
Before my time yes but always had good things to say about his spell here and the people of Manchester in particular too, remember him saying City fans are the best and most supportive he'd ever experienced.

Said years ago on the radio that he'd been sold false promises by Peter Swales and was excited by the project before being forced out the club, he said Swales was an idiot for putting the club at risk with his decisions but loved it here said it was the friendliest place he ever lived.

We basically told him to do one a year later at a hefty financial loss, way under his value in desperation because we couldn't carry on paying him.
It was completely our fault we couldn't pay his given contract back then, which probably sums up in a nutshell how badly ran we were.

I thought he was much kinder than other ex players or pundits in the media when talking of City, I'm not sure it was just because he played here too either but more about how he was. I've heard him reminiscing about times here and praising us while commentating on championship games, probably just because one of the teams had loaned a player from our academy and it mentioned us.

RIP Trevor Francis.
 
BlueMoonRisin’ said:
For those who aren't old enough to know, when Trevor Francis signed for us he put at least an extra 5000 on the attendance. Such an exciting player but injury prone. RIP
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Just had a flash back to the Piccadilly radio advert.
went something like. Hi im Trevor Francis why dont you come down to Maine road tomorrow to watch and my teamsters play. or something like that
 
RIP. I'll never forget when I was ball boy and rumour was he was out injured which I was gutted about. We went into the dressing room to collect the balls and Francis was on the physicos table getting prepared for the game. I was star struck.
 
Tragic news, one of the most amazing debuts I have ever witnessed, when he was fit Trevor was a baller.

RIP ,gone far too quickly.
 
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I feel very sad (and old) hearing the news of Trevor Francis’ death today. I remember him breaking through into Birmingham City’s first team (in the old division one?) in 1972 as a 16 year old.

He was always a thoroughbred player although a bit injury prone. Delighted when he signed for us and desperately disappointed when he was sold for financial reasons just a season later.

RIP Trevor and thanks for the wonderful memories.
 
uweuweuwe said:
Just had a flash back to the Piccadilly radio advert.
went something like. Hi im Trevor Francis why dont you come down to Maine road tomorrow to watch and my teamsters play. or something like that
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When he played he added at least 5k to the gate, which made the decision to sell him so quickly even more bizarre.
 
Gary Birtles just said how supportive Trevor Francis was of him when his wife died 2 years ago and when Francis was at City and Birtles at United. Lovely bloke.

So sad. So many happy memories watching him in just one season with us. His close control and speed were phenomenal.
 
BlueMoonRisin’ said:
For those who aren't old enough to know, when Trevor Francis signed for us he put at least an extra 5000 on the attendance. Such an exciting player but injury prone. RIP
Click to expand...
One of Swales worst moves(and there was books worth of them) Sold him to Sampdoria in 82 because(apparently) we couldn't afford his wages. The average attendance slumped from 34000 to 26000, 8000 down. Now was that a false aconomy? Too fucking right it was! A magical player who brought the crowds and glamour to City,but only for one season :(
 
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