Francis Lee RIP

give it to gordon said:
The beauty of these cars was the ease of repair lol. My first car, no laughing was a morris mariner ! I changed to gearbox in our driveway I wouldn't dream of doing that to today's cars !
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Mine was a mariner as well, white when I bought it but painted it black with paint from Woolworths and gold go faster stripes from Halfords next door - don't know if you had to declare the colour change back in the 70's.
Remember changing head gasket, snapped two of the bolts taking it off, no skimming it just changed the gasket and bolted the good ones back in and never had a problem.
Rusted like nobody's business but MOT's were easily bypassed for an extra £2.
 
Bill Walker said:
Article in the United Mail today about Frannie leaving 1.6 million in his will.
I would have thought he'd be much richer with his successful business in paper products.

Man City legend 'left incredible fortune behind for his family' after his death at the age of 79 https://mol.im/a/13909207 via https://dailym.ai/android
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Franny was a shrewd lad.

He'd have made efficient 'arrangements' to protect his assets from the disgusting inheritance tax for the benefit of his family.

Taxed whilst you live, taxed when you die !!
 
Gone for a Burton said:
Franny was a shrewd lad.

He'd have made efficient 'arrangements' to protect his assets from the disgusting inheritance tax for the benefit of his family.

Taxed whilst you live, taxed when you die !!
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Spot on. Most will have already been transferred. He was very astute financially and will have had a very sound inheritance tax plan.
 
Gone for a Burton said:
Franny was a shrewd lad.

He'd have made efficient 'arrangements' to protect his assets from the disgusting inheritance tax for the benefit of his family.

Taxed whilst you live, taxed when you die !!
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Got it in one. If you have lots of money you know perfectly well how to avoid the tax man getting his hands on it.

It is always Joe Public who has to cough up.
 
Heard a song I haven't heard in ages the other day. He who would be valiant. It's a hymn we used to sing at school in the early 70s. There's a line that says and fancies flee away.
I used to sing. And Francis Lee away.
Funny how thing pop in your head after years of forgetting about it.
Just thought I'd share this little moment with my fellow blues.



About 1.50 you hear the line
 
Reading his autobiography atm, very honest on most points.
Amazed that he thought he suffered a breakdown in the early 70s when he claims his business partner stiffed him.
Honest about Alan Balls appointment too.
Just onto Coppells appintment, that should be interesting.
 
Tbilisi said:
Reading his autobiography atm, very honest on most points.
Amazed that he thought he suffered a breakdown in the early 70s when he claims his business partner stiffed him.
Honest about Alan Balls appointment too.
Just onto Coppells appintment, that should be interesting.
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What did he say about Ball?
 
HelloCity said:
What did he say about Ball?
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He admitted he got it very wrong.

Says he was expecting Brian Kidd to take the job but be backed out, then he interviewed Dave Bassett but Franny got second thoughts on him and then Ball was his best option.

Such a shame for Lee, a critical mistake.
 
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Tbilisi said:
He admitted he got it very wrong.

Says he was expecting Brian Kidd to take the job but be backed out, then he interviewed Dave Bassett but Franny got second thoughts on him and then Ball was his best option.

Such a shame for Lee, a critical mistake.
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We all make mistakes but he’s still one of my best payers I’ve seen in a City shirt.

Please post about what he says about Coppell. The story has never really surfaced, did he take it up the arse or just a complete rag piece of shit.
 
Sid C said:
We all make mistakes but he’s still one of my best payers I’ve seen in a City shirt.

Please post about what he says about Coppell. The story has never really surfaced, did he take it up the arse or just a complete rag piece of shit.
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Theres nothing about the first part of your question, the second part is standard. He did say that Coppell, unknown to Franny, was seeing the club chaplin almost from day one and that he must have had issues before taking the job, even City couldnt do that to him in 33 days!

He said Neal could not "organise a piss up in a brewery" and that Frank Clark never really spoke to him although I think Franny has to take some of the blame for that, maybe organise more formal meetings?

Interesting parts are that although I knew about the 60k a year for the merchandise rights given to Eddie Phillips by Swales. Franny states Swales was taking 20% of catering profits on certain areas of the ground, the old chairman at Stoke Peter Coates ran the company and offered it Franny when they first met.

Franny says that the idea for CoMS came from a conversation with Sir John Hall at Newcastle who remarked how lucky we were getting the commonwealth games. This started the ball rolling Franny said.

Good book, would advise anyone to buy it.
 
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Tbilisi said:
Theres nothing about the first part of your question, the second part is standard. He did say that Coppell, unknown to Franny, was seeing the club chaplin almost from day one and that he must have had issues before taking the job, even City couldnt do that to him in 33 days!

He said Neal could not "organise a piss up in a brewery" and that Frank Clark never really spoke to him although I think Franny has to take some of the blame for that, maybe organise more formal meetings?

Interesting parts are that although I knew about the 60k a year for the merchandise rights given to Eddie Phillips by Swales Franny states Swales was taking 20% of catering profits on certain areas of the ground, the old chairman at Stoke Peter Coates ran the company and offered it Franny when they first met.

Franny says that the idea for CoMS came from a conversation with Sir John Hall at Newcastle who remarked how lucky we were getting the commonwealth games. This started the ball rolling Franny said.

Good book, would advise anyone to buy it.
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Thanks. My sister bought it for me for Christmas. Not read it yet, but maybe will make a start at the weekend. I was working at a Manchester law firm as a newly qualified solicitor when Franny was our chairman. We weren't the club's solicitors, but Stephen Boler and Colin Barlow were both clients via their personal business interests, so we had some City-related matters from them and were updated with lots of inside gossip from the club.

Will be interested to see how Franny's recollections match up with my memories of those days. It's his view, of course, and in principle if an autobiography's written well (and his ghostwriter is well respected, I think), readers should end up at least understanding the person's point of view even if they still don't agree with it. The exception to this rule for me, among City autobiographies, was Mike Doyle, who regrettably I thought came across as a very bitter, angry and rather unpleasant man.
 
Mike Doyle as well as Neil Young were my favourites as a youngster in the late 60’s and I’ve got to say I was taken aback by Doyle’s book.

I could never understand why he mentioned the incident in the golf club ‘under the table’ and agree he definitely had his ‘demons’

Both had tragic endings and died within a few months of each other.
 
bluegaz13 said:
Mike Doyle as well as Neil Young were my favourites as a youngster in the late 60’s and I’ve got to say I was taken aback by Doyle’s book.

I could never understand why he mentioned the incident in the golf club ‘under the table’ and agree he definitely had his ‘demons’

Both had tragic endings and died within a few months of each other.
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I started going in 1975/6 and Doyle was the captain then and won a few England caps that season and the following one. Dave Watson was my absolute favourite, but he and Doyle were a superb pairing for a couple of seasons so I loved Mike as well. And, of course, for a long time I thought he might be the only City captain I'd ever see lift a trophy! I did hear at the time that he had a couple of appearances at supporters' clubs to promote his book that didn't go all that well, but I prefer to remember the player he was rather than dwell on the sad end of his life.

Young was slightly before my time as he left the club when I was a 3-year-old and I've only seen him on TV. When I was involved in operating a City website in the very early days of the Internet, I did take part in a campaign to get him a testimonial given that he was promised he'd get one when leaving for Preston and Swales never made good on the promise. The club wouldn't do anything officially, IIRC, as they were afraid of setting a precedent. I think Neil ended up with a game between a showbiz XI and a former players' team (including Franny, I think) at one of the non-league grounds in Tameside.
 
petrusha said:
I started going in 1975/6 and Doyle was the captain then and won a few England caps that season and the following one. Dave Watson was my absolute favourite, but he and Doyle were a superb pairing for a couple of seasons so I loved Mike as well. And, of course, for a long time I thought he might be the only City captain I'd ever see lift a trophy! I did hear at the time that he had a couple of appearances at supporters' clubs to promote his book that didn't go all that well, but I prefer to remember the player he was rather than dwell on the sad end of his life.

Young was slightly before my time as he left the club when I was a 3-year-old and I've only seen him on TV. When I was involved in operating a City website in the very early days of the Internet, I did take part in a campaign to get him a testimonial given that he was promised he'd get one when leaving for Preston and Swales never made good on the promise. The club wouldn't do anything officially, IIRC, as they were afraid of setting a precedent. I think Neil ended up with a game between a showbiz XI and a former players' team (including Franny, I think) at one of the non-league grounds in Tameside.
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From a distance they both looked very similar but that’s where any kind of comparison ends both in playing style and personalities….one being very aggressive and the other the polar opposite.

I have got both of their books and all of the ones from that era apart from Franny….so might order it now….although sad to read it after he died.

The partnership between Doyle and Watson was as good as it gets and meant Tommy Booth lost his place….but he was a good enough footballer to step into midfield when Colin Bell got injured.

Great that you got involved in Neil Youngs campaign….I live near Urmston and remember him managing a sports shop here (think it was called Attack Sports) and also I think he was also a milkman at some point.
 
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