Gerry Francis

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Gerry Francis
Personnel
Surname Gerald Charles James Francis
birthday December 6, 1951
place of birth Chiswick , London ,  England
position midfield
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1969-1979 Queens Park Rangers 295 (53)
1979-1981 Crystal Palace 59 0(7)
1981-1982 Queens Park Rangers 17 0(4)
1982-1983 Coventry City 50 0(2)
1983-1984 Exeter City 28 0(3)
1984 Cardiff City 7 0(0)
1984 Swansea City 3 0(0)
1984-1985 Portsmouth FC 3 0(0)
1985-1987 Bristol Rovers 32 0(0)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1974-1976 England 12 0(3)
Stations as a trainer
Years station
1983-1984 Exeter City
1987-1991 Bristol Rovers
1991-1994 Queens Park Rangers
1994-1997 Tottenham Hotspur
1997-2001 Queens Park Rangers
2001 Bristol Rovers
1 Only league games are given.

Gerald Charles James "Gerry" Francis (born December 6, 1951 in Chiswick , London ) is a former English football player and current coach . His name is closely linked to the London club Queens Park Rangers , for which he worked as a player and coach. He also played twelve full international matches for England between 1974 and 1976 .

Player career

Francis joined the Queens Park Rangers in 1969 and, before signing his first professional contract, played his first league game against Liverpool on March 29, 1969 - the debut ended in a 2-1 home defeat and it followed a little later the descent into the second class Second Division . The young midfielder, who demonstrated a high accuracy of the pass and had good technique, quickly became a crowd favorite, who was also dangerous for goals. At the side of Stan Bowles he quickly conquered a regular place and after rising again in 1973 he was in the zenith of his active sporting career in the 1975/76 season, when he led "QPR" as captain to win the runner-up . During this time Francis also came to his twelve internationals for England, in which he scored a total of three goals - including two goals against arch-rivals Scotland on May 24, 1975 for a 5-1 win.

In the following years Francis suffered from a series of injuries and after the relegation of the Rangers in 1979 he hired in July 1979 for a transfer compensation of 450,000 pounds at the Crystal Palace coached by Terry Venables . There, however, he did not find his usual form and so he switched back to QPR a short time later for only 150,000 pounds. In February 1982, the exact same amount went to Coventry City , where the back pain-plagued Francis slowly let his career come to an end. From 1983 he oriented himself more in the coaching profession and only appeared as a lower class player at Exeter City , Cardiff City , Swansea City , Portsmouth FC and the Bristol Rovers .

Coaching career

The first experiences as player-coach of Exeter City were accompanied by little success between 1983 and 1984 in the table cellar of the Fourth Division , but already with his first full-time coaching activity at the Bristol Rovers from 1987 he managed to move into the Play- with the third division team in the second year off games and in 1990 promotion to the second division via the third division championship. The just 38-year-old Francis was considered one of the best young coaches in England due to this respectable success and rumors of a future job at his ex-club QPR were fueled.

When Don Howe was fired from the Rangers in 1991 , Francis was promptly available as his successor and formed a promising squad into a first division team who could build on the successes from the 1970s. The 1991/92 season had started slowly, but after the first victory in late September 1991, the team under Francis worked out a comfortable eleventh place in the final table. In the following two years Francis established his team in the upper half of the table and swung up with players like the veteran Ray Wilkins and the new striker Les Ferdinand up to the fifth place in 1993. Despite this positive sporting development, there was rumor behind the scenes and when, following a weak start to the season, rumors of an impending engagement of Rodney Marsh as the new General Manager increased, Francis, who was additionally annoyed by frequent player sales, quit his employment at QPR in November 1994.

He immediately succeeded Osvaldo Ardiles at Tottenham Hotspur and gave the offensive team a more defensive attitude. The results were initially positive, but the 4-1 semi-final defeat by Everton heralded the turning point. After Jürgen Klinsmann , Gheorghe Popescu and Nick Barmby announced their farewell to Spurs and so the highly decorated team fell apart. The expensive rebuilding process with players like Andy Sinton , Clive Wilson and Les Ferdinand - all ex-Queens Park Rangers players - failed and, in addition to the final table positions in midfield, playing with long balls on the offensive was not considered creative. Even the attempt with David Ginola to bring a little culture into the building game did not bring about the desired improvement. When the Spurs stayed just above the relegation places in November 1997, Francis responded to increasing public pressure with his resignation.

Francis returned to the Rangers as coach and sporting director and found the second division club in a different state than before. QPR had maneuvered itself into financial difficulties and the club was concerned about staying in the league. With the renewed commitment of Francis, the supporters connected the hope of better times, but in reality remaining in the second division was considered ambitious enough. In the 1999/2000 season Francis had built a team that stayed near the play-off places, but then things went steeply downhill. In a disastrous 2000/01 season, the Rangers fell to the penultimate rank, had to move into the third division and filed for bankruptcy. Francis, who had already left the sinking ship in February 2001, was largely responsible for the development and the first step towards economic realignment was the dismissal of no fewer than 16 players before the start of the subsequent 2001/02 season.

Shortly after his "Rangers fiasco", Francis took on a second coaching position at Bristol Rovers for a few months before disappearing for a few years and only occasionally appearing as an expert in the media. He only returned seven years later as a cotrainer. After initially turning down an offer from Newcastle United in October 2008 , he joined Stoke City as an assistant .

literature

  • Macey, Gordon: Queen's Park Rangers - The Complete Record . Breedon Books, 2009, ISBN 978-1-85983-714-6 , pp. 217, 247 .
  • Bob Goodwin: Tottenham Hotspur - The Complete Record . Breedon Books, Derby 2007, ISBN 978-1-85983-567-8 , pp. 232 f .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Francis, Gerry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Francis, Gerald Charles James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soccer player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH December 6, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Chiswick , London