How Peter Swales became City chairman

[urban genie]

No idea who did this but ha ha ha

 

[HarrytheBlue]

The thing that intrigued me was the number of directions his hair went. Even Bobby Charlton's combover extended from one side to the other but Swales had combovers on his combovers.

As Bernard Manning used to say, Peter Swales had three shredded wheat - two for breakfast and one on his head.

 

[petrusha]

Aside from the impropriety alleged above with regard to gate receipts, Swales also took considerable advantage of the Football League allowing clubs to have one paid director from the early 1980s onwards (prior to that, football club directors had to be unpaid). Obviously Swales became City's, and with the departure of Trevor Francis, PJS was the highest earner at the club. I believe he was on over £50K per annum at the outset, which at the time was the kind of wage being paid to the top players in the country.

He retained that pre-eminence in terms of remuneration until he left. IIRC, he was on £400K per annum when he stepped down, when the likes of Quinn, Coton, Curle and the other top owners at the club were on £100K a year less. Make no mistake, Swales did very well out of City in terms of his salary alone.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

I won't have a word said against him.

 

[The Lightbowne Cowboy]

I'm hanging on to these stories like a one armed climber with a itchy arse. Is there any more to come or is that it ?

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

I won't have a word said against him.

What about in sign language then?

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

I'm not sure why the underrecording ended in the late 1980s. Hillsborough may well have played a role, though the influx of TV money during this period did change the financial incentives for some club owners.

I think after Hillsborough that's when games generally started to require pre bought tickets. Certainly for away games. All the gate fiddling was dependant on cash turnstiles so the advent of removing cash from the turnstiles and pre paid for tickets made each purchase traceable and to be accounted for

 

[bernard o'silver]

sucked the life out of the club

 

[Andrew Keenan]

I'm hanging on to these stories like a one armed climber with a itchy arse. Is there any more to come or is that it ?

Love the imagery. There are two more instalments to go, then I'll be moving on to other areas covering City's past and present. Some of that will remain free. Other parts, including my research into Swales' time as chairman, will be subscription only.

 

[Andrew Keenan]

I think after Hillsborough that's when games generally started to require pre bought tickets. Certainly for away games. All the gate fiddling was dependant on cash turnstiles so the advent of removing cash from the turnstiles and pre paid for tickets made each purchase traceable and to be accounted for

That would make sense. And I suspect that the announcement of Lord Justice Taylor's 'far-reaching judicial inquiry' following the Hillsborough disaster would have made Swales a little nervous.