Trevor Francis (1987 to 1988)
A player of unquestionable quality, Trevor Francis joined the newly crowned Champions in the summer of 1987 for the relatively modest fee of £75,000. With the Club’s participation in the European Cup once again just around the corner, Manager Graeme Souness opted for experience in his summer recruitment drive and, in Francis, he had secured the services of a member of what is a fairly exclusive club (one that could boast of scoring the winning goal in said competition)!
Trevor’s headed goal for Nottingham Forest in the 1979 Final had earned him legendary status at City Ground but he had already written his name into the history books by then, becoming the first £1m player in British football.
Twice in the space of little more than three years he would find himself on the move for a seven figure fee. Therefore, to secure the services of the 33 year old for such a nominal amount seemed like a decent piece of business, even more so when the player agreed to a ‘pay as you play’ structured deal (having signed carrying a shoulder injury). Just 12 months previously, Atalanta had paid £800k to prize him from Sampdoria.
Capped over 50 times for England and having established himself as one of the star players in England’s top flight, Trevor had latterly been playing in Italy which included a season with Graeme Souness at Sampdoria where they helped the Genoa side with the Coppa Italia for the first time in 1984/85.
At his peak, Trevor had been an outstanding striker who could put defences to the sword with his devastating turn of pace and clinical finishing. He was also versatile, capable of playing on both flanks and even dropping into a wide midfield role.
Having spent the early weeks of his career in Glasgow working on his fitness, Trevor made his debut on 12th September 1987 as Rangers defeated Dunfermline Athletic 4-0 in a Premier Division clash. The sublime touch, awareness and pinpoint crossing were evident as Francis ‘strolled it’ on his first Ibrox outing. Upstaged only by a Super Ally hat-trick and a wonderful goal from the substitute player-manager, it had been a more than encouraging start.
Back-to-back wins over Motherwell in the League and League Cup (Hampden) followed before his second Ibrox run-out saw Morton thumped 7-0. This time, Mark Falco helping himself to a hat-trick in ADDITION to another from Ally McCoist. Four victories from his his four appearances had been acheved as Dynamo Kiev came to town for the 2nd leg of the European Cup (1st Round), holding a slender 1-0 advantage from the match in Kiev. It was a night never to be forgotten.
With Francis wearing the No.7 jersey in an unfamiliar starting XI which included Jimmy Phillips, John McGregor and Avi Cohen, Rangers would level the tie mid-way through the first half when Mark Falco rolled into an unguarded net. If the first goal had a touch of pantomime about it, the second was outstanding. Souness finding Francis out on the right, his trademark cross picking out Falco who headed across goal to McCoist. McCoist giving Kiev keeper Chanov ‘the eyes’ and heading back across him into the net. Ibrox was well and truly rocking, surely the most incredible atmosphere the modern day version of Ibrox had ever witnessed. It could scarcely have been a tougher draw but Rangers were through.
An explosive Old Firm match the following month would give Francis his first taste of this particular fixture, it may have been a draw but it 100% felt like a victory for 9 man Rangers after coming from two goals down to clinch a stoppage time equaliser. Another home European Cup win (3-1 v Gornik Zabre) was followed by an epic League Cup Final at Hampden where Rangers and Aberdeen battled out a sensational 3-3 result. Rangers would emerge victorious in the resulting penalty shoot out and nobody could ever forget Trevor’s successful spot kick. His one step ‘run up’ giving Leighton no chance as Rangers went 4-2 ahead on penalties. The huge Rangers support had never been more nervous.
Of Trevor’s first 11 games for Rangers, it is incredible to think that 3 of them would easily feature in the all time top ten of many Gers fans of a certain vintage.
The season did not play out the way that we would have hoped and that League Cup victory proved to be the only silverware. The arrival of Mark Walters later in the season perhaps convinced Souness to look to the future and Trevor left the Club once the European dream was over (his final appearance coming in the QF win over Steaua Bucharest as we lost 3-2 on aggregate).
In all, Francis played 25 times for Rangers of which 14 were from the bench.
Trevor Francis died of a heart attack in Spain on 24th July 2023.
by Rick Plews
