The "Swales Out" Campaign

DSC00179.jpg
 
jrb said:
Does anyone have a picture of the model showing the plans for a redevloped Maine Road, under Swales. They Main Stand was completed first and then the proposal ground to a halt. All the stands were supposed to have a similar roof.
The large girder structure under the new main stand roof was to hold exec boxes.. the Platt lane was to have the same roof as the North stand and the Kippax to the same as the Main stand only no boxes and to be all standing...sadly all just a dream. would have looked good....happy days

basspostmaineroad.jpg


Seen the model numerous times, but I can't find it on Google.

-- Sun Feb 20, 2011 1:12 am --

fbloke said:
Whilst you ruffians and urchins were causing trouble outside I had to settle for chatting to FHL, Buzzer and others whilst drinking free booze!

Shame on you little tinkers!
Click to expand...

Unlucky you. You missed the fun. ;-) Did you see me on the news by any chance, swinging from the bars like a demented monkey?

Made Tahrir Square in Cairo look like a peace gathering.
Click to expand...
 
Asasdickyheart said:
fbloke said:
Although a confirmed KIppaxite of about 20 years at the time I spent that season and a couple more as a regular in the Directors box.

The shenanigans that went on through that period marked everyone involved out as rank amateurs, something I have talked about before.

I was as happy as anyone to see Swales move on but I didn't celebrate the anointing of FHL and have very little time for him as chairman.

There was talk at the time of a much richer person being willing to take on the clubs debt, invest what was then the astronomical figure of £10m on the team and develop Maine Road. The person had apparently provided proof of funds but decided against buying the club as he saw the FHL campaign as to powerful.

We got Franny and as you all now know he made some awful decisions, was worse than Swales for getting involved in team affairs and had now real desire to invest in the club.

Swales might well have loved the power as much as the club, but it is my humble opinion, based on conversations I had with all of those big names at that time (including Buzzer BTW) that FHL loved City less, far less. FHL was in it for profit and for profile.
Click to expand...

Fbloke this is spot on - i know for a fact that one of frannie's backers at the time did not have a spare pot to piss in so to speak and that Lee is was totally in it to raise his own profile. TBH i think he did more damage in the short space of time than Swales did.

As a blue at the time of the swales out campaign and being part of the demonstrations - i really wanted him gone we were slipping further and furter behind teams and some of the players who wore the blue shirt at the time were a disgrace, anyone else would have done at the time, but Lee mounted a great campaign saying he was going to invest all this money which never materialised, and we fans took the bait hook line and sinker, in hindsight would have been better if Swales had held on whilst finding an alternative with real money.

In retrospect i think Swailes has always copped the shit end of the stick, his heart was in the club, he just didnt open up to sharing power and possibly floating the club quicker enough. He didnt deserve the abuse he got, but i was one of the ones shouting it too and for that i will always regret to an extent
Click to expand...

We werent alone, Steve Coppell fell for it as well.....
 
Someone’s been liking posts on this thread and I thought I’d bump it. I’ve forgotten a lot of the detail from the time and the thread has it all on here.
 
Gary James said:
Picture the scene in 2040 when someone (hopefully still me - I intend writing about City for a few decades yet!) writes the history of City. They'll talk of the European Cups, Premier League titles; World-Superbowl Soccer Successes etc. and then they'll tell everyone about the old days when candles were a fire hazard on concrete terracing; when chairmen wore cuban heels and were accused of balancing shredded wheat on their head; when rotund comedians joked that City's new signing was called "Swalesout" and that the new stand faced the wrong way; when City's manager told the players to time waste thinking they were safe while one of the club's stars was running down the touchline urging them to attack; when star players were sold to build a new white roof over the main stand; when fences went higher and higher and fans were treated like cattle; when the highlight of the game was whistling the laurel & Hardy tune to the 100 policemen walking around the pitch towards the Kippax; when 'Dibble' was actually the nickname for the policemen who stood on their platforms looking down on those in chanters' corner...


it'll sound like a different lifetime never mind our recent history!
Click to expand...
This cvame around quicker than you even predicted @Gary James
 
There was that mad vicar who got heavily involved in the Swales out thing, trying to make everyone stage peaceful “sit ins” outside the main entrance when everyone was more interested in throwing stuff
A mad time and some crazy scenes
Still will never be as weird as that “Save Our Sven” march, though, carrying a bedsheet around a locked and empty stadium
 
LongsightM13 said:
There was that mad vicar who got heavily involved in the Swales out thing, trying to make everyone stage peaceful “sit ins” outside the main entrance when everyone was more interested in throwing stuff
A mad time and some crazy scenes
Still will never be as weird as that “Save Our Sven” march, though, carrying a bedsheet around a locked and empty stadium
Click to expand...
Oh shit, I'd forgotten about "save Our Sven". To be fair, it did seem madness that we sacked him but his career never recovered from there.
 
Those were dark days, demonstrations on the forecourt, negative chants on the terraces, and yet Swales always insisted that he loved the club .... and then Franny Lee goes and gets dragged into the mix and lands up in a job he probably didn't really want.
 
Forward with Franny didn't quite work as expected but, if it wasn't for the sheer determination of all those blues who were desperate for change, we wouldn't have the fantastic club we have now.
 
awest said:
Forward with Franny didn't quite work as expected but, if it wasn't for the sheer determination of all those blues who were desperate for change, we wouldn't have the fantastic club we have now.
Click to expand...
Yep, everything happens for a reason, it's just that Franny seemed quite happy with his lot, and his thriving bog roll business even before he accepted the city chairmans post, and fan pressure kinda changed all that ... before he knew it he was bossing City, and he'd never really expressed any previous desire to do so from my recollection.
 
Swales got too giddy when City's home attendances rocketed circa 76-78 and he started making silly comparisons with United.

In reality the crowds had increased thanks mainly to the success from the previous decade, just as now we're gaining all those 18-25s who were still at school when Aguero and Yaya were making headlines

Up until then Swales hadn't done too badly, but rather than continued long term investment, he started dreaming of big names and big transfers that would close the gap even further.

Utter madness and we all know the rest.

My first Swales Out demonstration was outside the Main Stand after the 4-2 defeat to Southampton in 86-87
In fact I was so annoyed that I left the ground at 4-1 and didn't even know about Moulden's late consolation until I got home.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top