Forest break football transfer record

Football club Nottingham Forest has just clinched Britain’s first £1m transfer deal.

England forward Trevor Francis signed for Brian Clough’s League and Cup winning side this lunchtime in Nottingham after eight seasons with Birmingham City.

The total cost to Forest – whose average League gate is 30,000 people – will be £1,180, 000, including VAT and 5% fees for Francis and the League Provident Fund for ex-footballers.

Assistant manager of Nottingham Forest Peter Taylor said: “We can afford to pay prices like this because of good management in the past.”

It is double the amount received by Liverpool when Kevin Keegan was sold to Hamburg in summer 1977.

The previous record transfer fee of £500,000 was paid by West Bromwich Albion to Middlesbrough last December for David Mills.

Weeks of speculation

Francis, 24, spent five hours in talks with Clough yesterday when the Forest manager removed his earlier objections to the star striker playing in the US over the summer.

As well as his £45,000 transfer payment, Francis will also receive £80,000 from American club Detroit Express to play for them in the closed season as part of a £200,000 package over three years.

He is the first new signing Clough has made in 14 months, after buying defender Needham from Queen’s Park Rangers.

The move to Nottingham ends weeks of speculation for Francis, after Birmingham wavered about whether to let him go.

Trevor Francis made his League debut in 1970 at Cardiff and since then has made 300 League appearances for Birmingham and has had 12 senior England caps.

Coventry - whose manager Jimmy Hill is co-owner of Detroit Express - were the only other club in the running to sign Francis but were excluded from the competition by their refusal to raise their stake from £900,000 below Birmingham’s valuation.

Francis went on to secure European Cup victories for Nottingham Forest in 1979 and 1980.

He enjoyed successful seasons at Manchester City, Sampdoria - in Italy - and Glasgow Rangers and gained a total of 52 caps for England.

In 1988 he moved into management at Queen's Park Rangers, then went on to manage Sheffield Wednesday - where he was also briefly a player - before returning to Birmingham City as manager in May 1996.

By the 2002 season he had moved to managing Crystal Palace. He stepped down in April 2003 after the club's disappointing performance.