City's "Fan On The Board"

[Didsbury Dave]

Part of Franny Lee's big con to make money out of a Manchester City floatation, by ousting Swales using us fans, was that he promised us that the board would include one fan. Who remembers this debacle? It was presented as the democratisation of Manchester City, a great step forward for football.

Once Franny was in he had to carry this through and it was oh-so-typical City. The first set of problems occurred when it came to selecting the candidates. I can't remember the detail but an almighty row erupted (as was the norm) in the fanzines. Others will have clearer memories but it came back to the raw hatred which existed between Noel Bayley of BTH and Dave Wallace of KOTK. I think each accused the other of dirty tricks in an attempt to achieve this position. In the event it went down to a ballot in the program, and I think Noel may have pulled out by this point. As it was, Dave Wallace won and was installed as "fan on the board".

Anyone in business will know what a daft idea this was, and so it proved. I am sure that Wallace found himself effectively sitting in the corridor for most of these meetings whilst the serious stuff was discussed, then wheeled in for a five minute AOB about pies at the end. After a short period of time and some bitter accusations, the whole thing was quietly shelved.

"Fan on The Board" summed up the smoke and mirrors of Franny Lee's Chairmanship and the divisions and bitchiness at the heart of our club throughout that period. One of many skeletons in the club's cupboard.

 

[brooklandsblue2.0]

Part of Franny Lee's big con to make money out of a Manchester City floatation, by ousting Swales using us fans, was that he promised us that the board would include one fan. Who remembers this debacle? It was presented as the democratisation of Manchester City, a great step forward for football.

Once Franny was in he had to carry this through and it was oh-so-typical City. The first set of problems occurred when it came to selecting the candidates. I can't remember the detail but an almighty row erupted (as was the norm) in the fanzines. Others will have clearer memories but it came back to the raw hatred which existed between Noel Bayley of BTH and Dave Wallace of KOTK. I think each accused the other of dirty tricks in an attempt to achieve this position. In the event it went down to a ballot in the program, and I think Noel may have pulled out by this point. As it was, Dave Wallace won and was installed as "fan on the board".

Anyone in business will know what a daft idea this was, and so it proved. I am sure that Wallace found himself effectively sitting in the corridor for most of these meetings whilst the serious stuff was discussed, then wheeled in for a five minute AOB about pies at the end. After a short period of time and some bitter accusations, the whole thing was quietly shelved.

"Fan on The Board" summed up the smoke and mirrors of Franny Lee's Chairmanship and the divisions and bitchiness at the heart of our club throughout that period. One of many skeletons in the club's cupboard.

Some of the stick Dave Wallace gets (not from you BTW) is a disgrace.

 

[petrusha]

I don't really remember the detail, but I do recall that there was some kind of vote for the FotB thing. IIRC, wasn't Mark Bittner one of the other candidates? I don't recall if there were more than the two candidates, but Dave Wallace was the best known up for election and won it quite easily.

As DD says, Dave Wallace and the club seemed to have different views of how it should all work. I remember Dave commenting after the idea was ditched that the club wanted a "fan of the board, not on the board". Though as DD says, it was never ever going to be a fan onthe board in any meaningful sense anyway.

Didn't City shelve the whole idea after an unhappy year and opt for the Fans' Committee idea instead? Claiming it was a more effective way of communicating with fans. Which, in truth, it actually is.

I also remember the acrimony in the fanzines as a result of the selection process. I'll leave it for those with clearer memories to explain exactly what went on - I'm a bit hazy and would suspect I'd offend all parties by misrepresenting them. I do hope someone picks this up, though, because the threads about the fanzine wars are often hugely entertaining.

 

[charliebigspuds]

Remember it well, the whole of Franny Lee's takeover was based on lies and empty promises that he couldn't deliver, it amazes me when I think back about how much of a joke the club was, and I'm not just talking of around that time.

 

[Boots_]

I'm disgusted with you, Dave. After the heinous crimes committed by Holland's whereby they, for reasons unknown, included raisins within the matchday pies just a couple of years ago, I thought you of all people would realise that Wallace's input on our pastry delights was absolutely critical. Hang your head in shame.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

I'm disgusted with you, Dave. After the heinous crimes committed by Holland's whereby they, for reasons unknown, included raisins within the matchday pies just a couple of years ago, I thought you of all people would realise that Wallace's input on our pastry delights was absolutely critical. Hang your head in shame.

Sorry Boots. I'd forgotten how much the humble pie is a part of Manchester City's culture.

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

I think there were two ''elections''
The first time there was 4 candidates - Dave Wallace, Frank Horrocks, Cath Knott and I can't remember the fourth.
From what I gather, the four were selected by the club.

I wrote a piece in This Charming Fan being critical of the fact that the club had cherry picked the four, rather than ask for nominations and also very critical that Frank Horrocks was up for it, seeing as in many fans eyes, he (via the supporters club) hadn't been representing the views of fans in regards to backing Swales to the hilt. I felt if he had backed Swales so strongly, would he therefore do the same with Lee?
The supporters club were too in-twined within the club, dependent on the social club for premises, players for meetings, player of the year award - and of course - tickets! The supporters club needed City more than the City needed the supporters club, hence (in my opinion) why the supporters club was so supportive of Swales.
At the time I called for an Independent Supporters Association to be set up, one that wasn't reliant on players / tickets etc, so that a voice could be heard that couldn't be beaten down with threats of sanctions against player visits or ticket privileges being removed.

The following year, the club asked for nominations and I know there was around 4 / 5?? (happy to be corrected)
Mark Bitner was one of them. I remember there was an allegation that he'd gone around with photocopied forms getting people to sign them.

I can't remember who won the second year.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

I think there were two ''elections''
The first time there was 4 candidates - Dave Wallace, Frank Horrocks, Kathy Knott and I can't remember the fourth.
From what I gather, the four were selected by the club but happy to be corrected on that.

The following year, the club asked for nominations and I know there was around 4 / 5?? (again happy to be corrected)
Mark Bitner was one of them. I remember there was an allegation that he'd gone around with photocopied forms getting people to sign them.

I can't remember who won the second year, but think it was Dave again.

That rings bells. And was BTH's outrage because the club just picked four candidates? Not including Noel? Weren't there accusations that Dave pretended not to be interested and was lobbying behind the scenes?

Someone must be able to fill out the blanks. Loads of ex-fanzine editors on here.

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

I think there were two ''elections''
The first time there was 4 candidates - Dave Wallace, Frank Horrocks, Kathy Knott and I can't remember the fourth.
From what I gather, the four were selected by the club but happy to be corrected on that.

The following year, the club asked for nominations and I know there was around 4 / 5?? (again happy to be corrected)
Mark Bitner was one of them. I remember there was an allegation that he'd gone around with photocopied forms getting people to sign them.

I can't remember who won the second year, but think it was Dave again.

That rings bells. And was BTH's outrage because the club just picked four candidates? Not including Noel? Weren't there accusations that Dave pretended not to be interested and was lobbying behind the scenes?

Someone must be able to fill out the blanks. Loads of ex-fanzine editors on here.

I just edited my piece a little.
Noel wasn't nominated, well, he wasn't one of the 4 in the first year, but I'm sure he can speak for himself.

My fanzines are in a box in my mates garage! I'll get him to dig one out and see who the 4th person was.

 

[petrusha]

I think there were two ''elections''
The first time there was 4 candidates - Dave Wallace, Frank Horrocks, Kathy Knott and I can't remember the fourth.
From what I gather, the four were selected by the club but happy to be corrected on that.

The following year, the club asked for nominations and I know there was around 4 / 5?? (again happy to be corrected)
Mark Bitner was one of them. I remember there was an allegation that he'd gone around with photocopied forms getting people to sign them.

I can't remember who won the second year, but think it was Dave again.

That rings bells. And was BTH's outrage because the club just picked four candidates? Not including Noel? Weren't there accusations that Dave pretended not to be interested and was lobbying behind the scenes?

Someone must be able to fill out the blanks. Loads of ex-fanzine editors on here.

I just edited my piece a little.
Noel wasn't nominated, well, he wasn't one of the 4 in the first year, but I'm sure he can speak for himself.

My fanzines are in a box in my mates garage! I'll get him to dig one out and see who the 4th person was.

Just in case it helps to narrow down in terms of dates when he's looking through the fanzine - I've located this from the MCIVTA site, which suggests that the result of the first 'Fans' Representative' election was held on 21 September 1994, and it was rather a landslide for Dave Wallace, who won 63% of the votes: http://mcivta.com/mcivta/Di-Au94.html

I do remember that one thing which contributed to the breakdown of the relationship between Dave and the club was the comment he offered to one of the tabloids when Alan Ball was appointed. He wasn't directly critical, but his rather guarded tone and reference to Ball's past record didn't meet the approval of some in the boardroom, it seemed. (Nor do I recall Dave ever suggesting he was misquoted).