We too were shocked to see Frannie on Sunday; I remarked to Mrs Vienna that Frannie has gone to look old.
Francis Henry Lee is the reason I support Manchester City.
For those old enough to remember, in those days, we used to get player collection cards; they came in packs of four with a piece of bubble gum.
The first year I collected them was 1970, and one day,we were in class discussing them, and one of my friends (R. I. P., Paul), pointed at a Frannie card, and said, "He must be a good player, there are loads of him."
He immediately became my favourite player, and therefore his team was my team. He remains my favourite, even to this day, despite all the modern-day heroes.
Even his time as chairman did nothing to erode my love for him. As others have said, I think the mess that the club was in was far worse than he realised. The impending transformation of the Kippax into an all-seater stand, and the necessary removal of the toxic waste underneath the old stand didn’t help.
However, to his credit, he started the transformation of the club’s corporate hospitality from its almost non-existent state to what it is today and his administration paved the way for the club's eventual move to CoMS.
I too hope that the slimmed-down version of Frannie is a conscious effort to lose weight, rather than linked to health issues.
