Maybe I phrased it wrong saying a vote. It could have been he withdrew his support for Swales, which tipped the balance in Swales going. Whichever or however way he went it was not a moment too soon. When you look at us now I personally dont think we will ever see a chairman like him ever again. Well not while we are owned by the Sheikh.;-)Ian Niven told me Joe Mercer never achieved anything at City… l Not certain I’d trust his views. Oh and Swales was never actually voted out.
He bankrupted the business loaning more and more to buy players the club couldn't afford. He wanted a yes man as the manager as he thought he knew more than them The board members had no say rarely if ever had board meetings I would love to know why he was backed by Stephen Boler must have had some dirt on himI think Swales got too much stick personally. Always found the cash for players, think of Phelan, Curle etc other big money buys as well. Just hired pretty poor managers that was the big problem. He had the clubs best interest at heart
Niven was a yes man to survive in his position he only held a small number of shares, he was a true blue though and thought the sun shined out of Big Mal's arse and this is why he dissed Joe.Withdrawing his support of Swales, tipping the balance is bollocks, what tipped the balance is finally Swales ran out of options, the club was virtually bankrupt and he wasn't able to borrow any more. He was trying to sell to anyone apart from Franny but, any other interested party knew that the fans wouldn't accept any else so in the end he had to agree to Franny, otherwise he would have lost everything as his City shares would have been worthless and the bank would have demanded he paid his personal loan off, as it was secured on his City shares,Maybe I phrased it wrong saying a vote. It could have been he withdrew his support for Swales, which tipped the balance in Swales going. Whichever or however way he went it was not a moment too soon. When you look at us now I personally dont think we will ever see a chairman like him ever again. Well not while we are owned by the Sheikh.;-)
There were only two other parties who matter as power brokers at City, Stephen Boler and Greenhalls. Boler backed Swales, why? I guess will never know and Greenhalls stated their neutrality. The others including Niven were irrelevantSuch a complex area. First Swales Out on record came in 1979 but before that he was seen fairly positively. Personally, I have a lot of negativity towards Ian Niven and the others who did the 1970 takeover (that ultimately led to Swales getting power). Their treatment of Mercer right at the start was disgraceful and Niven was ultimately the one who brought Allison back.
I did do the last recorded interview with Swales. I was very much a Swales Out man and he knew that when he allowed me to interview him. I did leave feeling those who had supported him for years let him down - they changed sides to protect their own positions.