Midfielder

“The lad’s head wasn’t right for the game and it was better that he wasn’t here”- Nigel Worthington

Damien Francis was the ‘lad’ in question, ‘here’ was Layer Road, former home of Colchester United, the game a pre-season friendly for Norwich City.

It was the July, 2005 and all was not well with one of City's star players.

Worthington already had plenty on his plate as he looked to get Norwich on an even keel following relegation from the Premier League. Who could ever forget the final day 6-0 mauling at Fulham? More of that in a bit…

Francis was easily disposed to another season in the Championship. An athletic, driving midfielder, he knew he was good. Too good not to have a seat at thew top tab le.

And his agent, Tony Finnigan, knew it as well. Francis was the quiet type, but with Finnigan in his corner to do the talking, it didn’t really matter. If Francis/they wanted out of Carrow Road, that’s what would happen.

First came prolonged interest from Portsmouth. Finnigan bigged it up as the door-loosening exercise gathered momentum.

Pompey had a bid (£750,000, then City chief executive Neil Doncaster later revealed) turned down.

But the picture was of a player with his head turned – enough for Worthington to pull him out of Colchester trip.

Worthington insisted it was a mutual decision, hence the ‘head wasn’t right’ comment. Fans smelled a rat, many suggesting he had gone on strike in an effort to force his move.

Finnigan, meanwhile, was working away in the background.

“Damien wants to come to Portsmouth. He’s interested only in going there now,” he told the Portsmouth News. “We have had other clubs like West Ham and Charlton interested, but we are not taking a blind bit of notice.

“Portsmouth have led from the front from the very start and Damien is 100-per-cent ready to join. We are not using Portsmouth. They are a good, established club who I think would be ideal for Damien.

“We hope to get something done in the next few days. I can’t see Norwich wanting to keep hold of a player who has his heart set elsewhere. This is a chance for Damien to get back into the Premiership. He’s given Norwich great service and it’s bad for morale to keep him there.”

Francis did play in the yellow and green again, in a showpiece Carrow Road friendly against Inter Milan when he was booed every time he touched the ball.

Then, from stage left, came Wigan and their manager Paul Jewell.

“I’ve had a call from the players’ agent to say the lad wants to sign and he’ll be coming up to tomorrow to complete the deal I hope. He’s scheduled to have a medical at the JJB stadium in the morning and then if all goes according to plan he’ll train with us. I’m a big believer that a deal isn’t done until it’s actually done, but all the signs are positive at this moment in time.”

Wigan had £1.5m to spend and Jewell quickly thrashed out a deal.

Francis had been at Carrow Road for two years, having joined from Wimbledon for half that figure. He scored 14 goals in 71 league starts. Only Darren Huckerby, Leon McKenzie and Iwan Roberts scored more in his first season. Francis ended the Premier League campaign with another seven, joint leading scorer alongside McKenzie and Dean Ashton.

But it was his final senior appearance which rankled with many fans. City went to Fulham needing a win to stay up. They were thrashed 6-0.

The senior players didn’t show up. Fans expected Francis to lead the cavalry charge. He didn’t.

In an interview with Connor Southwell in March, 2020, Francis found his voice – and it was telling.

“It’s one of the worst days of my football career, in all aspects. One, my performance, two, the scoreline and it was a lacklustre, crappy performance. As a team, we just didn’t turn up.”

On fans’ reaction

“I can see why some fans may think a certain way about me, but I think most fans respected me as a footballer and the way I played. I hope they have that in their heads rather than the way things were when I left the club with them not knowing the detail or what happened in the background when I left.”

On Worthington…

“What happened was, Nigel Worthington was talking quite badly in the local press about me. He mentioned a few things that weren’t actually true, like the club had handed me a new contract. A lot of it was that I didn’t want to go tit-for-tat with Nigel or anyone at the club. I respected them. I remember my last match was a friendly match. I came on against Inter Milan at half-time and every touch I had, the whole stadium was booing me, but I knew why, because Nigel Worthington had said those things in the press about me.”

That Colchester game…

“I never once went on strike. I was always training and where I needed to be. If that was the case, they would have fined me. In that pre-season, I wasn’t playing because of the situation that was happening with a possible move. He just wasn’t playing me. That’s the real answer. Nobody heard from me when it came to the situation which didn’t help.”