Francis Lee

[BertTrautmann'sParachute]

As a player,Franny was utterly immense for CITY from the day he signed. His contribution to our success & mentality during that era should never be under estimated or forgotten.
He was as hard as nails,took no shit from anyone particularlly rags like CowPat Crerand and had the heart of a very brave lion !!
Hatchet men like Smith,Hunter,Charlton,McGrath,Harris,Mcready etc didn't take liberties because Franny usually got his revenge in first !!
And could he play.....home,away,abroad......right wing,centre forward......wet,dry,hot,cold. There were many fantastic performances,but away at West Ham,rag land & Newcastle in the season we won the league stand out for me.
It was a privilege and pleasure to have seen him play......he was one of us. If you combined Carlito Tevez & Pablo Zabaletta you'd probably get Francis Henry Lee....there is no greater compliment.

That's the Francis Lee I choose to remember, rather than the chairman.

 

[Bozzie]

Was fortunate enough to share a dinner table with him after a charity golf day a few years back. He was excellent company and couldn't half put his wine away. The only downside of the day was our 'celebrity' was David Herd, shit player, shit golfer and shit car salesman!

 

[Tanzeylee]

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Some pics I have of franny, not sure what year there from...

 

[Tanzeylee]

 

[Tanzeylee]

 

[derekthedog]

Can't agree here.

We all know that the Swales era didn't turn out how we all wanted it to, but the idea that Franny Lee was inept because of anybody but Franny Lee is spurious.

Swap Khaldoon for Franny in their respective eras. Then think of their management ideas. There is only one winner.

Didn't Franny sack Colin Bell and the case went to an Industrial tribunal?

that was one of the many problems he had, he was slaughter when he got involved , and slaughtered when he did not.
the players and managers let him down totally.
all you have to do is google the managers appointments after city, ball, coppell, clark, and horton.
he gave them all support and transfer funds . no chairman would have stood by them like he did.
sadly after the swales fiasco , no one wanted to take the job on of manager, graham , rioch, etc.. all did a body swerve on us!
Actually, no.

As I underst it, the then-manager - can't remember who - that said he no longer wanted The King as one of his coaches. Colin went to Frannie, hoping he would help, but Lee said he couldn't interfere with whom the manager wanted on his coaching staff.

 

[spacecadet]

Can't agree here.

We all know that the Swales era didn't turn out how we all wanted it to, but the idea that Franny Lee was inept because of anybody but Franny Lee is spurious.

Swap Khaldoon for Franny in their respective eras. Then think of their management ideas. There is only one winner.

Didn't Franny sack Colin Bell and the case went to an Industrial tribunal?

They're still not speaking to each other because of that.

Debating who was the worst Chairman between Swales and Lee is like trying to decide whether Fred or Rose West was the most depraved.

You're never far off the money GDM - but there is no comparison, Swales is the worst chairman in our history.

 

[TGR]

Didn't Franny sack Colin Bell and the case went to an Industrial tribunal?

that was one of the many problems he had, he was slaughter when he got involved , and slaughtered when he did not.
the players and managers let him down totally.
all you have to do is google the managers appointments after city, ball, coppell, clark, and horton.
he gave them all support and transfer funds . no chairman would have stood by them like he did.
sadly after the swales fiasco , no one wanted to take the job on of manager, graham , rioch, etc.. all did a body swerve on us!
Actually, no.

As I underst it, the then-manager - can't remember who - that said he no longer wanted The King as one of his coaches. Colin went to Frannie, hoping he would help, but Lee said he couldn't interfere with whom the manager wanted on his coaching staff.

Colin Bell did take the club to a tribunal after he was sacked by Frank Clark. However the judge recommended they settle out of court which they did.
To this day Colin Bell refuses to be in the same room as Lee.

 

[-nibz-]

I'm loving these interviews. Love to see one with big Joe.

 

[Helmet Cole]

In one sense, Franny was very much a victim of circumstances, as Swales had fucked us over completely and the job was always going to be impossible without bags of money. But he also didn't help himself in a lot if ways. I think he saw us as an investment rather than a labour of love plus he made too many promises he couldn't keep.

Always thought Frannys problem was the bog roll fortune was not a fortune in football anymore. The sky money made what was a fortune in football terms in 89/90 worth feck all by '94. 5 years too late, but I'll always forgive him Ball for giving us Gio.