Trevor Francis opens up on the pain of losing his wife and his stellar career

Francis said: "I just didn’t think I could do it and I am not finding this conversation very easy at the minute. But two years have passed now."

The Nottingham Forest legend went on to say getting back in to working as a pundit is one of the few things keeping him sane these days after the horrific last two years.

Francis added: "I don’t like it when I wake up and have nothing planned. That’s the worst part. I like to have some focus so I am trying to slowly start again.

It’s so hard because of the deep love I had for Helen. Its a tougher challenge than anything I ever faced in football.

Trevor Francis on wife Helen's 2017 death

"It’s so hard because of the deep love I had for Helen and also because I am useless in the house. She did everything for me. I don’t mind admitting that.

"All of a sudden I am living by myself and I suppose I never contemplated this would ever happen. It is a tougher challenge than anything I ever faced in football."

Francis also revealed all on his world-famous European Cup winner in 1979, while playing for Brian Clough's Forest - for whom he'd earlier signed from Birmingham for a record £1m fee.

That night, Francis nodded home a famous header in Rome's Stadio Olimpico against Malmo to etch the Midlanders into European folklore.

Looking back, Francis said: "It was a magical moment. I used to write a column for the Roy of the Rovers comic and this was my own Roy of the Rovers moment.

"A European debut in a cup final and scoring the winning goal. Nobody had ever done that, had they?"

Francis also went on to discuss his complicated relationship with Clough - describing the time he was left out of the 1980 European Cup final squad.

Despite claiming Clough could be "warm, caring and engaging", Francis went on to say he also made him feel like an "outsider" that day.

Francis was injured for the final - having scored twice in both the quarter-final and semi-final - and was ordered to steer clear of the stadium.

Clough demanded Francis stay at home - and the player wasn't even invited for the open top bus tour, despite his heroics earlier in the competition.

Francis - who watched the game in the basement of a hotel in Cannes - recalled: "I was made to feel like an outsider.

"Whatever Brian Clough did you accepted but when I look back on it now it was so wrong.

"It was a classic contradiction. He was so big on the value of 'the team'. Making me get the tea for the players when I first arrived. Making Peter Shilton get the tea.

"But the ultimate contradiction comes when he won’t let me anywhere near the final.

"Yeah, it was wrong of him. But did I ever ask him about it later? Course not. He was still the boss."