This Day In History

9 February: Britain's First £1m player

After eight long seasons with Birmingham City, on this day in 1979 Trevor Francis signed for Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest for a then rather hefty £1 million quid.

In the days before frivolous oligarchs and loadsamoney sheikhs, the previous record transfer fee was £500,000 paid by West Browich Albion to Middlesbrough the previous December, for David Mills. Hardly the stuff of modern football, but definitely an eyebrow-raiser at the time.

Trevor Francis got £45,000 as part of the deal that took him to Forest, and though Ol' Big 'Ead had initial objections about Francis playing pre-season in the US (which would earn him an additional £80k) after a five-hour chinwag (where we assume Clough did most of the talking) an agreement was reached.

What Brian Clough would think about the enormous transfers and behaviour of professional footballers in the modern game would certainly be an interesting interview. His gamble in 1979 paid off, as Francis went on to help Clough win two European Cups and score the winner against Malmo in May of his signing-on year.

The footage below was seen on Match of the Day for many seasons to come and a giant picture of the striker stooping to head the ball remains on display in the main entrance and reception area of Forest's stadium.

Trevor Francis also played in Serie A between 1982-7 and has been described by someone called Fabio Capello as the best Englishman ever to play in Serie A.