Francis Lee RIP

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Although he is criticised for appointing Ball when he was chairman, he inherited a mess from Swales and he did get our costs under control.

I was not that aware that he had negotiated the City of Manchester stadium move. Without that, no City as we now know it. The ADU group would not have come in for us if we'd still been at Maine Road. That's the hard truth.

 

[Northerndave]

Of the shirt ............. not one of me topless presumably ;-)

Go on, do both :)


Or maybe not, the Shirt will do

 

[cleavers]

Although he is criticised for appointing Ball when he was chairman, he inherited a mess from Swales and he did get our costs under control.

He did, but he followed Ball with Coppell and Clark, and eventually just before it was too late, Royle, who couldn't prevent relegation, but did turn it round after Franny left.

 

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

Was fortunate as a teenager to get behind the scenes as my mum worked for the club for decades; where as Swales used to hammer her for me running around, franny was the complete opposite and would often sit down and have a natter…

One of my dads hero’s and nothing but fond memories from me, despite the catastrophic stewardship

RIP little terrier

 

[Spurs quarter 69]

Scored the winner on my first trip to Maine Rd the 1969 league cup quarter final. Would always rather remember him as our great centre forward, not as our dreadful chairman. A huge figure in our clubs history RIP fella

Meant FA cup

 

[HarrytheBlue]

View attachment 94960

I was not that aware that he had negotiated the City of Manchester stadium move. Without that, no City as we now know it. The ADU group would not have come in for us if we'd still been at Maine Road. That's the hard truth.

Not only did Franny start the ball rolling for the stadium, he transformed our off-field commercial operation to the extent that within a few years of him stepping down we were officially one of the twenty wealthiest clubs in Europe - according to Deloitte. Laid the foundations for everything. Loved the great man.

 

[Spellbinding]

Sincerest condolences and sympathies

 

[chris63]

My all time favorite City player.
My idol as a kid

 

[blue b4 the moon]

I was out up the road from my pad in Blackpool yesterday before going to the threatre and spoke to quite a few Derby fans in the pubs as they were at Bloomfield Rd last night....the older guys obviously were full of love for him.

 

[M18CTID]

He might have "put his money where his mouth was", but I'm afraid it was under his tenure that we sank to our lowest point, and he left shortly before our relegation to the third tier. He also sold his remaing shares to Thaksin, and we were close to being in another hole there as well.

He was a great football player, but his time running City wasn't great, appointing first Ball, Coppell, then Clark as managers, who between them oversaw some of the worst teams we've ever had. He did apoint Joe Royle, who eventually got some control, and started our revival.

I've no nostalgia for his time as chairman (other than it saw Swales off), just as a player.

That's not exactly what happened though. He stepped down as chairman shortly before we were relegated but he still had a stake in the club. He had the presence of mind to bring Bernstein in who steadied the ship, but Bernstein himself was ousted by Wardle and Makin which in hindsight wasn't the best of moves and IIRC they owned far more shares than Lee at the time of the sale to Thaksin. In any case, while Doctor Death's ownership could well have ended badly for us, it arguably kicked open the door for the ADUG takeover to happen so I'm not blaming anyone for selling their shares to Thaksin.

Peter Swales caused far more damage to our club than Lee - or Thaksin, Wardle, or Makin - ever did. He's the fucker who turned us from one of the top 3 clubs in the country to a complete and utter laughing stock on the pitch with a stadium not fit for purpose and a club shop that was smaller than my fucking living room and was making more money for his mate than it did for City themselves. He was also arguably responsible for ending Paul Lake's career prematurely due to his penchant for cutting corners and doing stuff on the cheap.