The "Swales Out" Campaign

[r.soleofsalford]

I've always thought that the bringing in of john maddocks and the saking of peter reid was the catalyst in the final downfall of swales.
remember the storming of the main stand gates and the name of some bloke called brain horton being the new manager. If this had never happned if swale would have been ousted

Remember the candle lit protest being banned on the kippax due to health and safety fears. Think it may have been king of the kippax whose front page had crawing of a bloke whose cig was setting fire to the guy in front while he held his candle aloft in safety.

didn't swales also hire a aload of goons to remove people so we couldn't stay behind and protest after games.

whether swailes loved city or not, his time was up and he refused to go.

his business had been selling sheet music, which became as profitable as selling davy lamps. after that he sold and rented telly`s.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Wait until Dyed Petya joins this thread. Swales is up there with the anti-Christ as far as he is concerned, anyone who even dreams of calling Swales a blue should watch their choice of words!

As a teenager, I was very disappointed by what FHL delivered. Fair enough he brought Swales down but he took us to our lowest point after promising some of the top names in football and instead of getting Franz Beckenbauer we got Alan Ball who delivered what everyone suspected he would - relegation. Lee can defend his reign by stating the shambolic state of the club which he took over and the progress made off the field but the bottom line is his short reign took us to the lowest point in our history.

He must have had an idea of what he was walking into so why make so many promises which he couldn't deliver - hadn't the supporters had enough of that during Swales reign?

Dyed always appears on these history threads, he musn't be around.

I think Lee's ego brought him in and he thought he could deliver the goods through force of personality. He wasn't diplomatic or likeable enough to turn a football club around.

HE actually got us a £10m investment through a "right issue" as I recall, ie diluting of the shares. And Frank Clark spunked the fucking lot on the likes of Bradbury and Brannan.

Remember "I'd rather be in Barnsley than Barbados"?

That's one of the few games I've been to with City where I didn't just fear we'd lose, I actually knew we'd lose.

 

[Gary James]

It's really difficult for me at times to be objective about the Swales years. 1983 was the worst I had ever felt at a football game and this was a formative period in my support of the Club. Because of that my emotions sometimes creep in (even when I'm trying to be objective).

Having said that.....

I do try to look objectively at City's entire history and without a doubt the Swales years sent us on such a strong downward spiral that it does mean that the activities of Lee, Wardle, Bernstein, Bird, Tueart, Mackintosh etc. were always going to be impacted by what had gone before.

Lee did make mistakes however it is clear that the Club was in a much worse state than anyone believed. When Lee took over the ground had to be a priority - the all-seater issue wasn't going away. Swales' plan (I've seen it) was to install seats on the old Kippax terracing!

Similarly, there were some odd financial agreements in place (some of which were created shortly before the takeover was finalised!) that meant some people would benefit at City's expense for some considerable time.

Lee's biggest mistake was comparing 'modern day' football with his playing days (and appointing Alan Ball of course!). Actually, it was the dismissal of Brian Horton that was the mistake - things could have been different had he stayed. The managerial merry-go-round of the following years was a disaster for us.

Actually... people think Lee interferred with player matters but perhaps he gave his managers too much freedom (hence their appalling transfer records).

Could it all have gone differently? Perhaps Lee should have cleared out all of those who had supported Swales for so long and got his own people in throughout? Perhaps he could have worked in partnership with Swales (I know... but it might have worked for City's good for a short while)?

Who knows? What is clear though is that had we been partially successful during the 80s Swales would have stayed for years (like Doug Ellis at Villa) and we might now be in a situation similar to Everton. That would have been great for the 80s and the pre-Premier League era but ironically our future is now a lot brighter than it would have been had we found a small amount of success.

 

[There is a Light]

Dyed always appears on these history threads, he musn't be around.

I think Lee's ego brought him in and he thought he could deliver the goods through force of personality. He wasn't diplomatic or likeable enough to turn a football club around.

HE actually got us a £10m investment through a "right issue" as I recall, ie diluting of the shares. And Frank Clark spunked the fucking lot on the likes of Bradbury and Brannan.

Remember "I'd rather be in Barnsley than Barbados"?

That's one of the few games I've been to with City where I didn't just fear we'd lose, I actually knew we'd lose.

But Lee lied to get in in the first place. He must have been a bigger fantasist than Swales if he thought his supposed charsima could deliver. He fed us a line about bringing in big names and spending big money but it didn't happen. He got off lightly for his lies in the end. The rights issue came when the damage had been done and as you say it was spunked by Clark on rubbish like Bradbury. Not that long after that we couldn't even get the money together to buy Craig Hignett.

I remember "I'd rather be in Barnsley than Barbados", that was probably a point of no return for him. I also remember the shame of the managerial fiasco's all through his reign. If I can remember it rightly it was Ball, Coppell, Book, Neal and then Clark. Somewhere in the middle of that George Graham used us to get himself the Leeds job. It was just a series of disasters and decision making that was surely on a par with some of Swales' worst.

 

[Gary James]

But Lee lied to get in in the first place. He must have been a bigger fantasist than Swales if he thought his supposed charsima could deliver. He fed us a line about bringing in big names and spending big money but it didn't happen.

If I can remember it rightly it was Ball, Coppell, Book, Neal and then Clark. Somewhere in the middle of that George Graham used us to get himself the Leeds job. It was just a series of disasters and decision making that was surely on a par with some of Swales' worst.

I think Lee genuinely believed he could bring in big names etc. He also invested more money directly into City than any of his predecessors, however it still wasn't enough. Remember that Blackburn were spending like crazy and no club (other than Utd) could compete financially.

Managers - Brian Kidd was offered the job as well. So was Dave Bassett. I think either of those would have been better for City at the time than the people who accepted.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Franny to Colin Bell, 'You're sacked, you can finish at the end of the day'.

I thought Colin Bell's beef with Franny was that he refused to get involved when Bell and Terry Farrell were sacked after Neil McNab took over the youth team. Frank Clark did the sacking IIRC and Bell tried to get hold of Franny, who wouldn't speak to him or told him he couldn't get involved.

I wasn't involved in the Swales Out days but I always got the impression that Swales loved himself more than he loved City. He enjoyed the power & prestige that he had at the FA and didn't want to let go.

Franny's intention was to fatten the club up for a flotation and make a tidy profit in the process but he was another one who let his ego run away with him. I think he also seriously underestimated the scale of the financial problems at the club when he took over and, to be fair to him, he had very little to work with.

Although he was and always will be one of my favourite players, everything I've heard about him suggests a vindictive streak. When Thaksin was trying to take over, Franny originally held out on the grounds that the offer under-valued the club and should have been around 75p a share instead of 40p. David Bernstein and some other big shareholders also had the same view. Once it became clear that price wasn't going to happen then he agreed to sell but only on the express condition that Dennis Tueart was kicked off the board.
Dennis was apparently Dave Makin's man.

 

[jay_mcfc]

Was it under Lee that Dave Bassett agreed to become our manager then apparently pulled out on the morning it was supposed to be announced?

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Dyed always appears on these history threads, he musn't be around.

I think Lee's ego brought him in and he thought he could deliver the goods through force of personality. He wasn't diplomatic or likeable enough to turn a football club around.

HE actually got us a £10m investment through a "right issue" as I recall, ie diluting of the shares. And Frank Clark spunked the fucking lot on the likes of Bradbury and Brannan.

Remember "I'd rather be in Barnsley than Barbados"?

That's one of the few games I've been to with City where I didn't just fear we'd lose, I actually knew we'd lose.

But Lee lied to get in in the first place. He must have been a bigger fantasist than Swales if he thought his supposed charsima could deliver. He fed us a line about bringing in big names and spending big money but it didn't happen. He got off lightly for his lies in the end. The rights issue came when the damage had been done and as you say it was spunked by Clark on rubbish like Bradbury. Not that long after that we couldn't even get the money together to buy Craig Hignett.

I remember "I'd rather be in Barnsley than Barbados", that was probably a point of no return for him. I also remember the shame of the managerial fiasco's all through his reign. If I can remember it rightly it was Ball, Coppell, Book, Neal and then Clark. Somewhere in the middle of that George Graham used us to get himself the Leeds job. It was just a series of disasters and decision making that was surely on a par with some of Swales' worst.

Yep. Graham pissed us around. Told some journos he'd be interested in the City job, then joined Leeds. Around that time too Dave Bassett rejected us in an incredibly public and embarrassing way. Didn't we play Palace whist he had an offer? Brian bloody Kidd turned us down even. That was an embarrassing time to be a blue, but I still loved with a passion and went home and away.

 

[fbloke]

But Lee lied to get in in the first place. He must have been a bigger fantasist than Swales if he thought his supposed charsima could deliver. He fed us a line about bringing in big names and spending big money but it didn't happen.

If I can remember it rightly it was Ball, Coppell, Book, Neal and then Clark. Somewhere in the middle of that George Graham used us to get himself the Leeds job. It was just a series of disasters and decision making that was surely on a par with some of Swales' worst.

I think Lee genuinely believed he could bring in big names etc. He also invested more money directly into City than any of his predecessors, however it still wasn't enough. Remember that Blackburn were spending like crazy and no club (other than Utd) could compete financially.

Managers - Brian Kidd was offered the job as well. So was Dave Bassett. I think either of those would have been better for City at the time than the people who accepted.

Gary,

The points I have made in this thread are about this I suppose.

The fact I was told he had found out he couldn't deliver was a massive hit for him personally.

In simple terms he believed his own hype!

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Franny to Colin Bell, 'You're sacked, you can finish at the end of the day'.

I thought Colin Bell's beef with Franny was that he refused to get involved when Bell and Terry Farrell were sacked after Neil McNab took over the youth team. Frank Clark did the sacking IIRC and Bell tried to get hold of Franny, who wouldn't speak to him or told him he couldn't get involved.

I wasn't involved in the Swales Out days but I always got the impression that Swales loved himself more than he loved City. He enjoyed the power & prestige that he had at the FA and didn't want to let go.

Franny's intention was to fatten the club up for a flotation and make a tidy profit in the process but he was another one who let his ego run away with him. I think he also seriously underestimated the scale of the financial problems at the club when he took over and, to be fair to him, he had very little to work with.

Although he was and always will be one of my favourite players, everything I've heard about him suggests a vindictive streak. When Thaksin was trying to take over, Franny originally held out on the grounds that the offer under-valued the club and should have been around 75p a share instead of 40p. David Bernstein and some other big shareholders also had the same view. Once it became clear that price wasn't going to happen then he agreed to sell but only on the express condition that Dennis Tueart was kicked off the board.
Dennis was apparently Dave Makin's man.

I always wondered who did for Tueart, another big City ego. So it was Lee's revenge for the phone call we discussed in the thread yesterday?

 

[There is a Light]

I think Lee genuinely believed he could bring in big names etc. He also invested more money directly into City than any of his predecessors, however it still wasn't enough. Remember that Blackburn were spending like crazy and no club (other than Utd) could compete financially.

Managers - Brian Kidd was offered the job as well. So was Dave Bassett. I think either of those would have been better for City at the time than the people who accepted.

I believe Lee should have known about what he was taking on though before going public with what he thought he could achieve. I suppose in his defence, Swales wouldn't have been at all open about real state of the club before the deal took place. Am I right in thinking that Lee believed that Swales had actually sabotaged the club further in his final days knowing that the takeover was going to happen??

I forgot about Bassett, you are right, he would have done a better job as he had a good record of getting clubs promoted. Graham would too in fairness, but it was a ridiculous situation and isn't it a reflection on the state of the club that literally no-one wanted the job at that time. Hardly how we saw things unfolding when Franny took over.

 

[persvenality cult]

Actually... people think Lee interferred with player matters but perhaps he gave his managers too much freedom (hence their appalling transfer records

Maybe this stems from his publicly taking all the credit for Kinkladze.

From memory, Lee told the story that he promised Horton that he was signing a great player for the team.

I wondered about Swales' involvement in selecting players but there seems little doubt that Reid's signings, for example, were very much his own targets.

Both chairmen had a remarkable ability to pay through the nose for mildly above-average players. It seemed like self-delusion (the more we pay for a particular player the better he becomes), and vanity (big headline fees prove that I am in charge of a big time club).

 

[jay_mcfc]

Not forgetting the Matt Le Tissier saga.

It was fun listening to who we were linked with back then, bluemoon itk'ers would have gone through the roof!

 

[M18CTID]

The "Swales Out" campaign was a pivotal moment in our recent history. I thought I'd jot down a few memories of this battle and see what others remember.

My first memory of a groundswell of opinion was in the mid eighties, I susepct during the relegation season of 1987. Leaflets were given out on the Kippax describing the man's lies and incomptetence. At this point we'd recovered fromt he shockr elegation of 83 yet were on our wy back down again. Fans were horrified as most had grown up with City at the top table - back then the fact that we'd only won one trophy in 17 years was decreed as a major issue.

I'm sure the first demonstrations started then, outside the Main STand after games, and I remember bricks being thrown at the windows there which got caged. This campaign petered out and we eventually got ourselves back to the top division again, even into the top 6, but simmering resentment of him never died. I remember an away game, I'm sure it was Everton, at the beginning of a season, , maybe 1990, where a banner was unfurled saying "£6m? Swales you fucking liar" and it was removed. He'd promised us A fortune to spend to ensure season ticket sales then spent nothing.

Thingsd were building to a head again after Swales appointed John Maddock as his henchman, and he immediately sacked the popular Peter Reid after a couple of poor performacnes right at the beginning of a season. This was the catalyst and the hatred boiled over and the demos started again.

This time Franny Lee saw and opprtunity and very publically, through Alec Johnson of The Mirror, announced his intention to oust Swales. I was living in London and still remember seeing the back back of the Mirror one day "Franny Lee Steps Forward at City!" it screamed. The fans were united. He was the man to save us. Hell, The Mirror, followe dby the Sun, threw their weight behind Franny and the demonstrations reached a huge crescedo. This may seem odd, but there's be 3000 fans chanting "We want Swales Out" on the forecourt ofter the game and both the Mirror and The Sun were giving out badges spporting Franny Lee with their logo on. i've still got one somewhere.

Swales hung on as the pressure increased. He started to realsie his time was up as the campaign intensified. Franny Lee got organsied, recruited Colin Barlow and began to wipe the floor with Swales in the PR war. Outside the Main Stand it was bedlam every week. Riot police were charging, the lot.

We the fans got organised. Fans called for himsto stand down at the AGAM. There was even a show of hands of shareholders which showed a majority wanted him out. But it mattered nothing because the major shareholders stood by him. We had a sit in on the Kippax after one game. There was a display of candles one televised game which Swales tried to disrupt by having them removed from people. The battle raged. The fans upped their game and things got nasty. Sometimes the whole ground appeared to chant "We want Swales Out!" One night a leaflet was handed round the pubs in South Manchester with Swale's address on. The police had to secure his property and he went into hiding. A story emereged that City fans broke into a nursing home ad verbally abused his sick mother. This was never proved, incidentally.

Swales knew he couldn't hang on but still seemed detirmined not to sell to Franny. He tried to find other buyers for the club and I think he even found a potential one.

Then, one board meeting, at Swales's house, I believe, his henchmen finally turned on him and for the first time outvoted him on Franny Lee's offer. He was finished, a broken man, and died soon after.

The minute's silence for him at Maine Road was perfectly observed.

Who here was involved? And who can flesh out my vague memories, which might be tainted by time?

Largely bang on the money with dates, etc. The "£6 million to spend? You're a liar Swales" banner was indeed unfurled at Everton away but it was in August 1993, about a week or so before Reid was sacked!

IIRC Swales had come out with that quote early in pre-season but by the time the new campaign started I think our only new addition was Alfons Groenendijk (sp).

Also, a failed signing that rarely gets mentioned is that of Geoff Thomas earlier that summer. At the time, his stock was quite high and he was an England international. City were in for him and we looked nailed on to get him. I returned home from work one afternoon, switched on teletext, and saw that he'd signed for Wolves instead. This was despite Thomas being a City fan from childhood and Wolves being in the division below us! That told me all I needed to know about our club and the state it was in.

 

[Gary James]

Maybe this stems from his publicly taking all the credit for Kinkladze.

From memory, Lee told the story that he promised Horton that he was signing a great player for the team.

Lee was impressed with Kinky and sent Frizzell & Bell to Cardiff to watch him in an international and see if he really was something special. They were also very impressed and because of that City went for him.

Horton wasn't manager - Alan Ball was at the time we signed Kinky. Ball calimed he took the decision to buy him when he watched a video (!).

 

[Paul Lake's Left Knee]

I missed 'Swales out' as a chant, you used to be stood there and random blokes would scream SWALES OUT, SWALES OUT, SWALES OUT,SWALES OUT!! often on their own, it was a pressure release/touretts kind of thing... so much so, i missed doing it when he finally did one!!

On Swales - he had to go and in the end everyone wanted him gone, as a City fan, i hated the bloke, he was ruining my club, however on his passing i read somewhere "If you had the best job in the world, would you give it up just because you couldnt do it?" which summed it up for me, he was a City fan, just not a very good Chairman.

On Franny - i met him soon after his appointment, he gave te impression he didnt want to meet us, seemed totally uninterested talking to us, he mumbled some words (which i cant remember they were so rubbish) and bragged how he was going to make Maine rd 48,000 with 2 tiers all the way around and how the best of the best would be brought to City, and then got passed over by even average managers and we ended up with Ball... who did as much damage as Malcolm did in his second spell... for this Franny should never be forgiven - Alan fucking Ball...

 

[jay_mcfc]

Lee was impressed with Kinky and sent Frizzell & Bell to Cardiff to watch him in an international and see if he really was something special. They were also very impressed and because of that City went for him.

Horton wasn't manager - Alan Ball was at the time we signed Kinky. Ball calimed he took the decision to buy him when he watched a video (!).

Wasn't it at the time we were linked with Le Tiss (Alan Ball connections) but Lee said Kinky was better?

 

[chrishull]

Ball calimed he took the decision to buy him when he watched a video (!).

He's a football genius!

 

[fbloke]

The "Swales Out" campaign was a pivotal moment in our recent history. I thought I'd jot down a few memories of this battle and see what others remember.

My first memory of a groundswell of opinion was in the mid eighties, I susepct during the relegation season of 1987. Leaflets were given out on the Kippax describing the man's lies and incomptetence. At this point we'd recovered fromt he shockr elegation of 83 yet were on our wy back down again. Fans were horrified as most had grown up with City at the top table - back then the fact that we'd only won one trophy in 17 years was decreed as a major issue.

I'm sure the first demonstrations started then, outside the Main STand after games, and I remember bricks being thrown at the windows there which got caged. This campaign petered out and we eventually got ourselves back to the top division again, even into the top 6, but simmering resentment of him never died. I remember an away game, I'm sure it was Everton, at the beginning of a season, , maybe 1990, where a banner was unfurled saying "£6m? Swales you fucking liar" and it was removed. He'd promised us A fortune to spend to ensure season ticket sales then spent nothing.

Thingsd were building to a head again after Swales appointed John Maddock as his henchman, and he immediately sacked the popular Peter Reid after a couple of poor performacnes right at the beginning of a season. This was the catalyst and the hatred boiled over and the demos started again.

This time Franny Lee saw and opprtunity and very publically, through Alec Johnson of The Mirror, announced his intention to oust Swales. I was living in London and still remember seeing the back back of the Mirror one day "Franny Lee Steps Forward at City!" it screamed. The fans were united. He was the man to save us. Hell, The Mirror, followe dby the Sun, threw their weight behind Franny and the demonstrations reached a huge crescedo. This may seem odd, but there's be 3000 fans chanting "We want Swales Out" on the forecourt ofter the game and both the Mirror and The Sun were giving out badges spporting Franny Lee with their logo on. i've still got one somewhere.

Swales hung on as the pressure increased. He started to realsie his time was up as the campaign intensified. Franny Lee got organsied, recruited Colin Barlow and began to wipe the floor with Swales in the PR war. Outside the Main Stand it was bedlam every week. Riot police were charging, the lot.

We the fans got organised. Fans called for himsto stand down at the AGAM. There was even a show of hands of shareholders which showed a majority wanted him out. But it mattered nothing because the major shareholders stood by him. We had a sit in on the Kippax after one game. There was a display of candles one televised game which Swales tried to disrupt by having them removed from people. The battle raged. The fans upped their game and things got nasty. Sometimes the whole ground appeared to chant "We want Swales Out!" One night a leaflet was handed round the pubs in South Manchester with Swale's address on. The police had to secure his property and he went into hiding. A story emereged that City fans broke into a nursing home ad verbally abused his sick mother. This was never proved, incidentally.

Swales knew he couldn't hang on but still seemed detirmined not to sell to Franny. He tried to find other buyers for the club and I think he even found a potential one.

Then, one board meeting, at Swales's house, I believe, his henchmen finally turned on him and for the first time outvoted him on Franny Lee's offer. He was finished, a broken man, and died soon after.

The minute's silence for him at Maine Road was perfectly observed.

Who here was involved? And who can flesh out my vague memories, which might be tainted by time?

Largely bang on the money with dates, etc. The "£6 million to spend? You're a liar Swales" banner was indeed unfurled at Everton away but it was in August 1993, about a week or so before Reid was sacked!

IIRC Swales had come out with that quote early in pre-season but by the time the new campaign started I think our only new addition was Alfons Groenendijk (sp).

Also, a failed signing that rarely gets mentioned is that of Geoff Thomas earlier that summer. At the time, his stock was quite high and he was an England international. City were in for him and we looked nailed on to get him. I returned home from work one afternoon, switched on teletext, and saw that he'd signed for Wolves instead. This was despite Thomas being a City fan from childhood and Wolves being in the division below us! That told me all I needed to know about our club and the state it was in.

Groenendijk's (sp) City career all but ended in a reserve game when I was sat with Franny, Dunkerley and Barlow as they watched he reserves play.

'Fons had his arm in a lightweight plaster at the time and Lee asked, "Who is the wanker with the broken arm?"

I told him who he was, where he had come from etc.

"Well he can piss off back there then can't he!"

No conversations with the manager or the coaching staff needed then Fran'? Just the nodding agreements from John and Colin who knew nothing of the lad.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

fascinating stuff, I was only a wee kid back then and my first memory was the farce of a goal that Martyn Margetson gave away in a home game, think Dele Adebola scored it not 100% sure, either way I cried about it.

so even the kids had a bad time of it back then lol.