Trevor Francis discusses his success in Italy as well as his stint with the Detroit Express.
He was British football's first million-pound player, a European Cup winner with Nottingham Forest and his name is immortalised in the
Only Fools and Horses theme tune. But Trevor Francis was also a star in Italy, having spent five seasons in Serie A from 1982 to 1987. Four of those were spent with Sampdoria, during which time the club won their first-ever major trophy, triumphing in the Coppa Italia in 1985. Adam Bate caught up with the man himself to discuss the reasons for his success in Italy as well as his time playing in the North American Soccer League in the 1970s...
Although your most famous spell abroad was in Italy, your first move overseas was with the Detroit Express as a youngster. What are you memories of that time in America?
I thoroughly enjoyed it because obviously I was quite young and it was a great experience. I very much enjoyed playing in the Silverdome in Detroit on the astroturf.
It was a real challenge to play one week on astroturf, the following week on another type of astroturf and then the next week on a grass surface. There were a lot of challenges like that.
What I really enjoyed about my time in America was the opportunity to visit so many new states that I would never have considered going to on a family holiday.
But I had the opportunity to go and play football there. I spent the two summers in America and it was just a great experience.
Did that success in America give you added confidence that you could be a success abroad in the much tougher environment of Italian football?
No it didn't actually. I had absolutely no thoughts of going to play abroad when the opportunity came along to go to Italy.
I had just finished my first season at Manchester City and gone off to play in the 1982 World Cup in Spain.
I wasn't aware that Manchester City were in financial difficulties. And equally, I wasn't aware that Sampdoria were looking for a forward and had been following my progress in the World Cup. It was a huge surprise.
Serie A, with its emphasis on tactics, must have been the ultimate challenge for a forward player?
Football has changed now. There is so much more protection for forwards and the backpass rule has changed the game. And, in particular, the Italian approach has changed.
In the days when I played there wasn't such an emphasis on attacking. It's so refreshing to watch a lot of European football these days and see the onus on both teams going forward and looking to score goals.
Obviously that's to the detriment of defending, which is not as good as it used to be, but that's a small price to pay for seeing great games of football.
Undoubtedly, away from home it has become slightly easier to get results. We regularly see teams playing on the counter-attack now and finding themselves in space.
But despite all that, you did well out there. Fabio Capello even claimed you remain the greatest English footballer to play in Italy. Did it suit your style to an extent?
One of my greatest assets was my pace, which was always an important weapon that I had. First-touch, being able to control the ball and pass it, were also important qualities for an attacking player in Italy.
But the greatest attribute that helped me succeed in Italy was my movement. And whenever you watch forwards in Italy, even now with players such as Alessandro Matri and Mirko Vucinic at Juventus, they've
