A keeper who let his hands do the talking
Vaesen, Steve Hardwick, Matt Glennon and Alex Smithies have been popular – in addition to the outstanding loan signing of the time, Steve Harper.
But for five-and-a-half years, Steve Francis was the trusted man between the posts, spanning Town’s move from the old Leeds Road ground to the current stadium and also making two trips to Wembley.
And it’s 20 years ago since Francis left the Town books to sign for Northampton, where he made just three league appearances before packing in for good.
Francis was already an established and experienced keeper when he arrived at Town in 1993, one of the first in a string of key signings by new manager Neil Warnock.
He was an ever-present in his first season with the club, playing a total of 61 competitive senior matches, including the Autoglass Trophy final against Swansea City at Wembley - Town’s first visit to the national stadium in 56 years.
Town were watched by almost 30,000 fans, but lost the match on penalties after a 1-1 draw in which Richard Logan got the Town goal.
In the shootout, Pat Scully was the only man to score for Town, while John Cornforth, Kwame Ampadu and Steve Torpey were on target to give Swansea the trophy 3-1.
Francis had actually played at Wembley eight years earlier in the colours of Chelsea, who beat Manchester City 5-4 in what was called the Full Members Cup final. He had been an apprentice at Stamford Bridge from July 1980 and made his senior debut as a 17-yearold, going on to make 88 appearances all told for the club before joining Reading. He cost them only £15,000 but made 250 appearances in all competitions and was voted their Player of the Year in 1986-87. Tim Clarke and Tony Elliott had basically shared the goalkeeping duties the season before Warnock’s appointment, but the new boss knew who he wanted in that vital position for his defence to rely on. Town won six of their last seven matches in that 1993-94 season, when Francis played every game, to finish a remarkable 11th after struggling earlier in the campaign. One of those wins was as the club said an emotional farewell to Leeds Road, beating Blackpool 2-1 with goals from Simon Baldry and Phil Starbuck (with another Town keeper, Lee Martin, in the
Francis played a tremendous role in helping Town win promotion via the play-offs