What would Trevor Francis’ £1million transfer in 1979 be worth today, as the football world mourns his death at 69

When Trevor Francis joined Nottingham Forest, he was coming off the back of several free scoring seasons at Birmingham City and had earned a reputation as one of the top flight’s best forwards.

Nottingham Forest boss Brian Clough had long been an admirer of the of the striker, and when he became available in 1979 the legendary manager joined scores of First Division clubs ready to break the bank to secure his signature.

At the time the British transfer record stood at just over £500,000, paid by West Brom to bring Middlesbrough forward David Mills to the Hawthorns.

Landing Francis would require an even more sizeable fee however, and Clough used Forest’s financial muscle to set a historic benchmark in British football.

Though Clough would later assert the fee was actually one pound short of the seven-figure mark, additional fees meant the cost was actually closer to £1.2m and Francis would be forever immortalised as British football’s first million pound man.

But what would such a significant outlay be worth adjusted for inflation today?

An inflation calculator shows Francis’ record fee would be worth £5,389,240.56 in today’s money.

The difference between Francis’ adjusted fee and modern transfer values exemplifies the ever growing finances in football.