Francis Lee

[silverback]

Frannie used to be up at the crack of dawn when he was at Bolton going round all the local mills collecting their cardboard. Then when he had finished off to Burnden Park for training. If that wouldn't toughen you up nothing would.

 

[Damocles]

he wasn't fat, he was "barrell chested" :0)

Yes he was, I remember an interview where he was asked about his weight and Franny said he never carried an ounce of fat whilst playing.

True, he ate it all

 

[TGR]

Lee scored 17 or 18 pens in one season. The myth started by that other lot is franny got them by diving. From what i remember and have read lee only won one of those penalties.

According to Wikipedia, Frannie scored 15 penalties in 71-72, though I thought it was 13! I seem to remember hearing somewhere that he won only four of those.

Frannie is my all-time favourite player and I well remember the incident with Hunter, as well as the goal he scored for Derby on his return to Maine Road. The King claimed on the 'Bell, Lee, Summerbee' video that all the City supporters rose and cheered the goal because they could still see the light blue shirt under the white Derby County one!

It was the year we blew the league if memory serves. Getting beat by stoke 1-2 at home. Banks played a blinder. Also the day the record boys in blue was put on sale. Quite a few of the discs ended up on the pitch at the end. Only year the north stand was standing as well.And the year we signed marsh.

Franny was my childhood hero. I had a life size cut out of him on my bedroom wall - It came in 4 or 5 installments from 'Football Monthly' (I think).
Marsh came and we sacrificed Mike Doyle to accommodate him in the team, that's why we lost the title that season. We were lethal on the break and played at high speed. When Marsh came as soon as he got the ball he slowed it all down so he could do his fancy tricks instead of moving forward.
Did Terry Conroy score the winner for Stoke in the game they beat us 1-2? I can't remember.

 

[nobody can eat fifty eggs]

he wasn't fat, he was "barrell chested" :0)

Yes he was, I remember an interview where he was asked about his weight and Franny said he never carried an ounce of fat whilst playing.

True, he ate it all

Ha ha, you wouldn't say it to his face though ;-)

 

[ColinBellsjockstrap]

Have a look at the footage on youtube of Franny and Norman Hunter having full on fight on the pitch. If you google it there are plenty of stories about it. Franny was fucking livid and had to be restrained in the dressing room after he's been sent off to stop him going after Hunter.
He was a hard **** was Franny, especially for a fat little fucker.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8kxMnc5KUs[/video]

Franny and Bite 'yer legs have long since made up.

I remember quite clearly Lee's city debut, he was one of the finest players ever to grace Maine Road, as hard as nails.

 

[ColinBellsjockstrap]

He dresses like a used car salesman from Romford.

Don't know what you mean.....

One careful owner Gov, Hertz car hire..........

 

[ColinBellsjockstrap]

Don't mention the war......errr, I mean Alan Ball.

 

[Bill]

I'll tell you a story about Franny. My Dad played with him when Franny was a young kid at Bolton. They were playing West Ham and in the dressing room before the game, the Bolton lads were asking Franny what it felt like to be up against Bobby Moore, one of the best centre halves in the world. My Dad said Franny was going "He's shit, he's too slow, I'm going to give him the hardest game he's ever had". My Dad said he thought to himself "You arrogant bastard".

But apparently Franny did exactly that, at 19 years old or whatever: gave Bobby Moore the absolute runaround. My Dad couldn't believe it.

True story that and sums Franny up in lots of ways: horribly arrogant, but a brilliant player.

Awful, awful chairman, though. Something he has had a bit of a get-out-of-jail-free card with City fans for.

he loved the club but the lad although wadded never had enough money to sort city out, we were that bad. in fact had we not copped for the type of owner we have now we'd still be lagging behind. the prem now is all about billionaires, millionaires just don't cut it at the top table.

 

[TFC]

Your Mum saying Franny was the 'hardest man she'd ever known' might not just have a football meaning to it.

Not blond haired and blue eyed are you?

;)

 

[Didsbury Dave]

I'll tell you a story about Franny. My Dad played with him when Franny was a young kid at Bolton. They were playing West Ham and in the dressing room before the game, the Bolton lads were asking Franny what it felt like to be up against Bobby Moore, one of the best centre halves in the world. My Dad said Franny was going "He's shit, he's too slow, I'm going to give him the hardest game he's ever had". My Dad said he thought to himself "You arrogant bastard".

But apparently Franny did exactly that, at 19 years old or whatever: gave Bobby Moore the absolute runaround. My Dad couldn't believe it.

True story that and sums Franny up in lots of ways: horribly arrogant, but a brilliant player.

Awful, awful chairman, though. Something he has had a bit of a get-out-of-jail-free card with City fans for.

he loved the club but the lad although wadded never had enough money to sort city out, we were that bad. in fact had we not copped for the type of owner we have now we'd still be lagging behind. the prem now is all about billionaires, millionaires just don't cut it at the top table.

Agree mate. He did actually raise a fair bit of cash, too. But his dictator approach can never work running a football club. Remember David Makin's infamous phone call to GMR, which ultimately brought Lee down? I've got the text of it on my hard drive somewhere. Imagine that happening today: a club director ringing a phone in to bring down the chairman. It would be massive news.