Alan Ball: Did Franny Lee Really Think He Would Bring Trophies?

OnlyOneUweRosler said:
Ball sold some very reliable and at times pretty decent players (Quinn, Phelan, Curle, Flitcroft, Walsh, Beagrie etc.) and pretty much without exception their replacements were turkeys.
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That's a decent spine ,with those players alone at his disposal he should never have gotten us relegated!
 
Irish Blue82 said:
That's a decent spine ,with those players alone at his disposal he should never have gotten us relegated!
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Yes that spine was pretty decent by the standards of the 90s premier league, pound for pound stronger than teams like Southampton, Coventry and other fellow perpetual strugglers.
 
Shaggy said:
In a book by Hunter Davies, Davies writes that Francis Lee did not know about Ball signing Lee Badbuy and would not have sanctioned the purchase had he known about it.
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He must have known about the purchase - the manager can’t just go unilaterally spending the club’s money without the board’s approval.

Franny did an interview with City Magazine (we used to get it monthly from around 95/96 to the early 00s) and what he actually said was “I said to Frank Clark ‘is this definitely the player you want?’ and he said yes. But I can tell you we would definitely, definitely, definitely NOT have signed him if I had seen him play…”

It went on a bit after that, I could probably fish out the magazine from the loft on a quiet day to get the full paragraph, but that was about the gist of it.
 
OnlyOneUweRosler said:
Horton always struck me as a very decent and down to earth guy. With a squad full of injuries, and no money, he managed to bring in Walsh, Rosler, Beagrie, Rocastle and saved city from relegation. 1994/5 was my first full season as a city fan, and it was genuinely exciting to see how city loved to attack and get stuck in. I genuinely believe Horton was on the verge of winning something when they fired him.
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It was brilliant. I wrote him a letter after he was sacked, thanking him for giving us some heroes and exciting times. He wrote me a really nice letter back. Just a decent bloke he was treated pretty shabbily. Glad he still thinks highly of us, and I'm sure that's more to do with the fans than some other parts of the club.
 
SuttonColdfieldBlue said:
He must have known about the purchase - the manager can’t just go unilaterally spending the club’s money without the board’s approval.

Franny did an interview with City Magazine (we used to get it monthly from around 95/96 to the early 00s) and what he actually said was “I said to Frank Clark ‘is this definitely the player you want?’ and he said yes. But I can tell you we would definitely, definitely, definitely NOT have signed him if I had seen him play…”

It went on a bit after that, I could probably fish out the magazine from the loft on a quiet day to get the full paragraph, but that was about the gist of it.
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So it seems Franny Lee was ok with the transfer and did know about it, but was taking Clark's word for it that Bradbury was a good player. It's not he didn't know, it's that he didn't know how bad the transfer target actually was until it was too late? That is a bit clearer in light of what you say.
 
I can only comment on Lee from what I saw via the media, but he always came across as someone who was never wrong and wondered if he was to stubborn to admit that Ball wasn't right and instead of getting rid hoped that we would stay up then reassess in the summer. As for Ball I think he lost the dressing room(if he ever had it) with his medal speech especially with some of the senior players considering as he hadn't set the world alight with his managerial career. He managed to get Southampton into the top half but that was more luck than anything else with le tissier and the loan signing of Ekelund hitting form at the right time thus saving him saving him. Then hoping he could replicate this at City with Ekelund and Kinky, with the former having a known back injury which was known about when Ball was still manager at Southampton.

I would love to know the reasoning behind some of transfers, we're they purely financial like selling flitcroft to Blackburn trying to stamp authority on the dressing room getting rid of players like phelan and Walsh. Or just simply being completely clueless in the transfer market by signing the likes of buster Philips

With this and the york away thread might have to open up my rolodex and contact my therapist
 
OnlyOneUweRosler said:
Ball sold some very reliable and at times pretty decent players (Quinn, Phelan, Curle, Flitcroft, Walsh, Beagrie etc.) and pretty much without exception their replacements were turkeys.
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I was heartbroken, when we sold Gary flitcroft loved him, and his bowl head hair cut, Him and Paul Walsh were both class and my idols at the time. I also remember Rocastle and his tricky skills. I always remember the balloons set off in the centre circle at Maine road to start the franny era, looking back it was very Brian potter esk.
 
theres only one carlito said:
I was heartbroken, when we sold Gary flitcroft loved him, and his bowl head hair cut, Him and Paul Walsh were both class and my idols at the time. I also remember Rocastle and his tricky skills. I always remember the balloons set off in the centre circle at Maine road to start the franny era, looking back it was very Brian potter esk.
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Flitcroft scored the winning goal that day, 2-1 versus Ipswich
 
theres only one carlito said:
I was heartbroken, when we sold Gary flitcroft loved him, and his bowl head hair cut, Him and Paul Walsh were both class and my idols at the time. I also remember Rocastle and his tricky skills. I always remember the balloons set off in the centre circle at Maine road to start the franny era, looking back it was very Brian potter esk.
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Brian Potter? I seem to recall city tried to sign Clinton Baptiste that season, hypnotic effect on defenders.
 
gordondaviesmoustache said:
Lee reminds me of my old man. Came from nothing, made a few quid from ducking and diving (which is nothing to be sniffed at) but that makes them think that gives them powers they do not possess.

What probably happened with Francis is that when he retired someone he trusted persuaded him to invest in a waste paper business, and he did just that - and the investment paid off.

And that made him come to believe he was some sort of business guru.

It’s a natural human reaction, but the best way to make the most of what you’ve got is to know your limits. Only then can you properly focus on what makes you successful.
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A bit harsh mate, he also had success being a racehorse trainer, trained almost 200 winners.

I'm sure he also patented an invention, something to do with the motorways as well but common sense goes out of the window where football is concerned.

Many a good businessman will have wished he'd never got involved with the football club he loved, it's like no other businesses.
 
theres only one carlito said:
I was heartbroken, when we sold Gary flitcroft loved him, and his bowl head hair cut, Him and Paul Walsh were both class and my idols at the time. I also remember Rocastle and his tricky skills. I always remember the balloons set off in the centre circle at Maine road to start the franny era, looking back it was very Brian potter esk.
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Accompanied by 'The only way is up' by Yazz (but it wasn't......)
 
Irish Blue82 said:
Dropping Tony Coton for Immel was scandalous. Considering we ended up going down on goal difference i was convinced at the time and still today that with Coton in goal we'd never have gone down!
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Coton was injured pre season and Ball didnt seem to fancy Dibble or Margetson which led to Immel arriving just before the season started. Not replacing Coton for Immel was a poor choice which probably had an impact on TC joining the rags. Pretty sure Immel ended up having a hip replacement not long after leaving us.
 
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Went to see Alan Ball at a “gentleman’s” evening at Ridge Hill WMC while he was still manager
The most boring night ever all he talked about was the virtues of family his Dad (another football genius lol) and ………… can’t remember anything else
Wouldn’t drink with us place was packed with Bridge Blues posed for a few photos then fucked off

Best part of the night was when Vince Miller announced that the Pies have arrived
 
OnlyOneUweRosler said:
Thank you! Gosh that was one too. I also used to love how he said "Uwe! Uwe! Uwe!" three times whenever Uwe scored. Wonderful.
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Brian Clarke was brilliant and his commentary on our games on our promotion season review video is brilliant, in fact he narrates (hosts) the entire video.
 
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