Gerry Francis

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Gerry Francis
Personal information
Full name	Gerald Charles James Francis
Date of birth	December 6, 1951 (age 55)
Place of birth	Chiswick, London, England
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1968-1979 1979-1981 1981-1982 1982-1983 1983-1984 1984 1984 1984-1985 1985-1987	Queens Park Rangers Crystal Palace Queens Park Rangers Coventry City Exeter City Cardiff City Swansea City Portsmouth Bristol Rovers	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)
National team
1974-1976	England	012 0(3)
Teams managed
1983-1984 1987-1991 1991-1994 1994-1997 1998-2001 2001	Exeter City Bristol Rovers Queens Park Rangers Tottenham Hotspur Queens Park Rangers Bristol Rovers
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Gerald Charles James Francis (born Chiswick, December 6, 1951), is a former English footballer and manager. He was captain and a central midfield player at Queens Park Rangers during the 1970's and was also a regular member of the England team and for a time was England captain. He was a key player in the QPR side which came within a hair's breadth of their first-ever league title in 1976.

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, which resulted in Anderton only appearing in eight games in the 1995/96 season and seventeen games in the 1996/97 season [1]

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 in the 70s and 80s. He is a lifelong pigeon fancier.

[edit] Managerial stats

Team	From	To	P	W	D	L	W%
Exeter City	20 July 1983	14 May 1984	46	6	15	25	13.0%
Bristol Rovers	1 July 1987	13 May 1991	206	85	63	58	41.3%
Queens Park Rangers	1 June 1991	11 November 1994	158	59	47	52	37.3%
Tottenham Hotspur	15 November 1994	19 November 1997	142	55	42	45	38.7%
Queens Park Rangers	16 October 1998	25 February 2001	125	36	42	47	28.8%
Bristol Rovers	27 June 2001	24 December 2001	31	9	10	12	29.0%

Preceded by Bobby Gould	Bristol Rovers manager 1987-1991	Succeeded by Martin Dobson
Preceded by Don Howe	QPR manager 1991-1994	Succeeded by Ray Wilkins
Preceded by Ossie Ardiles	Tottenham Hotspur manager 1994-1997	Succeeded by Chris Hughton (caretaker)
Preceded by Iain Dowie (Caretaker)	QPR manager 1998-2001	Succeeded by Ian Holloway
Preceded by Garry Thompson (Caretaker)	Bristol Rovers manager 2001	Succeeded by Garry Thompson