Gerry Francis

Football player infobox
playername = Gerry Francis


fullname = Gerald Charles James Francis
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1951|12|6|df=y
cityofbirth = Chiswick, London
countryofbirth = England
currentclub =
position = Midfielder
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1968-1979
1979-1981
1981-1982
1982-1983
1983-1984
1984
1984
1984-1985
1985-1987
clubs = Queens Park Rangers
Crystal Palace
Queens Park Rangers
Coventry City
Exeter City
Cardiff City
Swansea City
Portsmouth
Bristol Rovers
caps(goals) = 295 (53)
059 0(7)
017 0(4)
050 0(2)
028 0(3)
007 0(0)
003 0(0)
003 0(0)
032 0(0)
nationalyears = 1974-1976
nationalteam = England
nationalcaps(goals) = 012 0(3)
manageryears = 1983-1984
1987-1991
1991-1994
1994-1997
1998-2001
2001
managerclubs = Exeter City
Bristol Rovers
Queens Park Rangers
Tottenham Hotspur
Queens Park Rangers
Bristol Rovers

Gerald Charles James Francis (born Chiswick, 6 December 1951), is a football coach. He was captain and a central midfield player at Queens Park Rangers during the 1970s and was a key player in the QPR side which came within a hair's breadth of their first-ever league title in 1976. He won 12 caps for the England team between 1974 and 1976, and was captain for eight of those matches.

However, injuries plagued Francis until he was forced to quit the game and in 1983 he managed Exeter City. He later succeeded Bobby Gould as manager of Third Division side Bristol Rovers. In 1990 he guided the Pirates to the Third Division title and they won promotion to the Second Division, but a year later he returned to QPR as manager.

In 1992-93, QPR finished fifth in the inaugural Premier League - highest placed of all the London teams. They finished ninth in 1993-94 and eighth in 1994-95, but in November 1994 Francis left Loftus Road for Tottenham Hotspur.

1994-95 was a 'nearly' season for Tottenham. They finished seventh in the Premiership - two places off a UEFA Cup place - and lost to Everton in the semi finals of the FA Cup. Mid table finishes in the next two seasons were unconvincing and Francis resigned in November 1997 with Spurs battling against relegation from the Premiership. During his time at Tottenham Francis became resented by the fans over his handling of star player Darren Anderton. It has been argued that Francis is largely responsible for Anderton's recurring injuries, placing him in the team without sufficient time to recover, which resulted in Anderton only appearing in eight games in the 1995/96 season and 17 games in the 1996/97 season [http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=180]

In September 1998, Gerry Francis was named as QPR manager for the second time. They had slumped since his departure four years earlier and were now Division One strugglers. He kept them clear of relegation over the next two seasons before finally resigning in February 2001 with a return to the lower half of the league imminent after more than 30 years. He briefly became Director of Football at Loftus Road before beginning his second spell as manager of Bristol Rovers in June 2001.

Three successive wins at the start of the 2001-02 campaign gave the Pirates hope for promotion back to Division Two, but injuries soon took their toll on the side's form and Francis resigned just before Christmas. The Pirates continued to slide and missed out on relegation to the Conference by just one place. Francis has not been in management since.

Francis still occasionally appears as a football pundit and retains the "mullet" hair style which he helped popularise during the 1970s and 1980s.

On October 4th, 2008, he was offered a position of first team coach at Newcastle United F.C.

Managerial stats