Francis Lee RIP

M18CTID said:
Also, it gets largely forgotten about now but there were huge signs of progress when Frank Clark first became our manager halfway through the 96/97 season. We finished mid-table but had been in a far more perilous position than that when he was appointed, and as such there was a lot of optimism ahead of the following season. From what I can remember, the sacking of King Colin was right at the back end of that 96/97 season and I don't recall there being a huge amount of uproar amongst the fans about it. It came as a bit of a shock for sure but we all soon got over it.
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Yeah with our record signing upfront and Kinky agreeing to stay there was a lot of optimism for promotion not relegation!
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
Brought up on his tales, and felt so let down as our chairman.

Arguably, made some of the worst decisions to impact the club.

He bought the club with Barlow and Dunkerley, and it always felt it was a little club of their own, making decisions on the fly.

I also couldn't forgive him sacking Colin Bell so ruthlessly?

I choose to herald the man who is one of our greatest ever players and extend sympathy to his family.
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No doubt it didn't go anywhere near as swimmingly as we all hoped, but regarding the bolded bit Peter Swales says hello and I remain convinced that if Lee hadn't come along when he did then we'd have found ourselves in far deeper shit. On the field, for sure he made some odd decisions. The appointment of Ball for one but it was clear he was never his first choice to be manager despite being his mate. That also doesn't negate the decision to replace Horton who for some reason is revered by a section of our fans as being akin to a messiah all because for about half a dozen home games of the 94/95 season we played some really exciting football. Once we lost our unbeaten home record against Arsenal we regressed so badly that we needed those 2 back-to-back wins against Liverpool and Blackburn over Easter 1995 to pull clear of the relegation zone, but even with just a couple of games to go we could've still gone down.

However, off the pitch Lee transformed the club, plus he signed the deal for the move to Eastlands which arguably paved the way for where we find ourselves today. Also, unlike Swales he didn't hang around indefinitely when the fans started to turn. True to his word, he stepped down when it got on top and he deserves credit for bringing Bernstein into the club.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
Last I knew, they never spoke again to each other, but happy to stand corrected.
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I agree Tolm, unfortunately & to the best of my knowledge they never did make up :-(.

My best mate, who is really well connected at the club, actually got me a signed shirt by Bell, Lee and Summerbee for my 50th birthday!
Not an easy task at all apparently, Buzzer was the mediator and after signing it himself, he took it to KC and asked him to sign it and, because he didn't want any potential ill-feeling towards him from KC apparently, he told KC that he was going to Franny for him to sign next, to complete the 3.
After a few seconds of deliberation and being told who it was for and why, I was fortunate to have met KC on a few occasions, KC (incredibly) duly signed it, which is something he just didn't do this apparently as he didn't want his name next/near to Franny's............so very sad!!
It has been really nicely framed (this cost like $700!!) and has pride of place in my basement bar, here in the US and you couldn't offer me enough money to part with it. My daughters know that this never, ever, leaves the family even after my death!
It will be even sadder to look at it now, with 2 of our 3 true LEGENDS now gone :-(
I cannot thank my best mate enough for doing this, plus Buzzer for taking it upon himself to actually get this done :-)

I truly love my club!
 
M18CTID said:
Pretty sure we were the bookies favourites to go up at the start of that season!
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Yup, i put 50 quid (that i really couldn't really afford at the time!!) on us winning the league and proudly walked in The Beehive before the first home game and showed my mates the betting slip!
Needless to say, that was the one and only time i have ever put money on City winning anything! Much to my mates pleasure i might add..
I should have tried to get a bet on City just getting out of that league !!!
 
BufordUSABlue said:
I agree Tolm, unfortunately & to the best of my knowledge they never did make up :-(.

My best mate, who is really well connected at the club, actually got me a signed shirt by Bell, Lee and Summerbee for my 50th birthday!
Not an easy task at all apparently, Buzzer was the mediator and after signing it himself, he took it to KC and asked him to sign it and, because he didn't want any potential ill-feeling towards him from KC apparently, he told KC that he was going to Franny for him to sign next, to complete the 3.
After a few seconds of deliberation and being told who it was for and why, I was fortunate to have met KC on a few occasions, KC (incredibly) duly signed it, which is something he just didn't do this apparently as he didn't want his name next/near to Franny's............so very sad!!
It has been really nicely framed (this cost like $700!!) and has pride of place in my basement bar, here in the US and you couldn't offer me enough money to part with it. My daughters know that this never, ever, leaves the family even after my death!
It will be even sadder to look at it now, with 2 of our 3 true LEGENDS now gone :-(
I cannot thank my best mate enough for doing this, plus Buzzer for taking it upon himself to actually get this done :-)

I truly love my club!
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Can you post a picture?
 
Mike N said:
Going to wind that back and give it a listen.
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I didn’t get long enough sadly. So much to say.

I’ve posted this lengthy profile on him to my website:

gjfootballarchive.com

Francis Lee

It is with immense sadness that I write this but the news has now been announced that the former Bolton, Manchester City, Derby & England star Francis Lee has died. There are so many things to …
gjfootballarchive.com gjfootballarchive.com
 
Northerndave said:
Pathetic isn't it when Derby have a far better tribute video up on their site last night for the 2 years he was there.
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I’ve emailed the club and asked them to amend immediately. They said they’ll pass it over to the media team to ‘investigate’. Somebody going to get a bollocking.
 
Derby fan in peace,never before gone on another fans site,but making an exception to pay tribute to the great Franny Lee,we had him at the twilight of his career and a lot of fans said he’s come for the ride,how wrong we were,he was inspirational never saw him have a bad game,always 110% commitied,full of passion exuberance and goals,he formed a great partnership with Charlie George,and Kevin Hector,and on a wednesday night under the floodlights at the old Baseball Ground in a European cup semi final against Benfica with the great Eusebio ,absolutely tore them apart he was brilliant.He played like a kid in a schoolyard full of the cocky tricks and Always with a smile on his face.against the Dirtys (Leeds showing what a hard man he was.I’m sure we could go on and on,bottom line a LEGEND every where he played.He was always Man City but thank you for borrowing him to us for 2years helping us to win the title he was part of the best Derby team in our history.God bless you Franny,RIP.
 
Dcfc said:
Derby fan in peace,never before gone on another fans site,but making an exception to pay tribute to the great Franny Lee,we had him at the twilight of his career and a lot of fans said he’s come for the ride,how wrong we were,he was inspirational never saw him have a bad game,always 110% commitied,full of passion exuberance and goals,he formed a great partnership with Charlie George,and Kevin Hector,and on a wednesday night under the floodlights at the old Baseball Ground in a European cup semi final against Benfica with the great Eusebio ,absolutely tore them apart he was brilliant.He played like a kid in a schoolyard full of the cocky tricks and Always with a smile on his face.against the Dirtys (Leeds showing what a hard man he was.I’m sure we could go on and on,bottom line a LEGEND every where he played.He was always Man City but thank you for borrowing him to us for 2years helping us to win the title he was part of the best Derby team in our history.God bless you Franny,RIP.
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Well said

broke my young heart when he signed for you
 
My dad used to tell me all about Franny, and very warmly called him Lee 1 Pen.
Whilst I never had the great privilege of seeing Franny play for us, I was around when he put his money where his mouth was and tried to rescue us when we were in the mud. I’ll remember him fondly for that if nothing else.
Rest in peace Francis Lee. A true blue hero.
 
Dcfc said:
Derby fan in peace,never before gone on another fans site,but making an exception to pay tribute to the great Franny Lee,we had him at the twilight of his career and a lot of fans said he’s come for the ride,how wrong we were,he was inspirational never saw him have a bad game,always 110% commitied,full of passion exuberance and goals,he formed a great partnership with Charlie George,and Kevin Hector,and on a wednesday night under the floodlights at the old Baseball Ground in a European cup semi final against Benfica with the great Eusebio ,absolutely tore them apart he was brilliant.He played like a kid in a schoolyard full of the cocky tricks and Always with a smile on his face.against the Dirtys (Leeds showing what a hard man he was.I’m sure we could go on and on,bottom line a LEGEND every where he played.He was always Man City but thank you for borrowing him to us for 2years helping us to win the title he was part of the best Derby team in our history.God bless you Franny,RIP.
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Great post mate
I was 9 or 10 when he put that goal past us at MR
I now forgive him
 
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