How Peter Swales became City chairman

[Andrew Keenan]

Andrew

I am thoroughly enjoying your articles, well crafted and enjoyable and shared with my blue mates who are now subscribed. Keep up the great work.

I would though request that you ensure that sufficient attention is directed to the evolution of the Swales combover. It fascinated me as a teenager and I’ve often mused that it was deliberately cultivated to deflect folk from the utter bullshit that came out of the mouth underneath it.

I think Swales' barber has suffered enough.

Thanks for getting the word out. I really appreciate that.

 

[Jim Tolmie's Underpants]

 

[East Level 2]

I don’t disagree with any of that. However, from my experience as a financial journalist, I never assume that the rapid deterioration of a company’s finances is the result of incompetence. As I’m sure you’re aware, it can also be the intended product of careful planning.

But who would benefit from the deterioration of City's finances? Swales was hardly responsible for asset stripping in his first few years as the only top player to go to a top team was Francis Lee IIRC.
Getting rid of Gary Owen and Peter Barnes has always been blamed on Malcolm Allison. The selling of Trevor Francis, Michael Robinson and one or two others may indicate the dead hand of Swales, but after that the club was in decline so decent players wanted to leave.
The one that always puzzled me was selling Garry Flitcroft near the end of the 95-96 season when his ability could have helped us gain the point we needed for survival. - But that was another chairman wasn't it?

 

[Blueboy73]

But who would benefit from the deterioration of City's finances? Swales was hardly responsible for asset stripping in his first few years as the only top player to go to a top team was Francis Lee IIRC.
Getting rid of Gary Owen and Peter Barnes has always been blamed on Malcolm Allison. The selling of Trevor Francis, Michael Robinson and one or two others may indicate the dead hand of Swales, but after that the club was in decline so decent players wanted to leave.
The one that always puzzled me was selling Garry Flitcroft near the end of the 95-96 season when his ability could have helped us gain the point we needed for survival. - But that was another chairman wasn't it?

I was baffled by the timing of the Flitcroft sale at the time but was told recently that we could have gone under without the money we got from Blackburn for his transfer.

 

[East Level 2]

I was baffled by the timing of the Flitcroft sale at the time but was told recently that we could have gone under without the money we got from Blackburn for his transfer.

I suspected that might be the case at the time but didn't want to believe Francis Lee could have been such a disaster after Swales. In any case, wouldn't it have been worth the gamble as the PL broadcast income would have dwarfed what we got for Flitcroft had we stayed up.

 

[Blueboy73]

I suspected that might be the case at the time but didn't want to believe Francis Lee could have been such a disaster after Swales. In any case, wouldn't it have been worth the gamble as the PL broadcast income would have dwarfed what we got for Flitcroft had we stayed up.

I guess we'll never know.

 

[Jam Tomorrow]

I suspected that might be the case at the time but didn't want to believe Francis Lee could have been such a disaster after Swales. In any case, wouldn't it have been worth the gamble as the PL broadcast income would have dwarfed what we got for Flitcroft had we stayed up.

The Flitcroft sale was appalling on so many levels, we splashed out most of the money we got for him on Nigel Clough who seems like a good bloke but was way past his best. We went down and sold two more of our best players Curle and Quinn allegedly cos they earned big wages but a year later spend a huge amount on Lee fucking Bradbury.

 

[I'm no cynic but...]

The reason for our club's downward spiral was the lack of a well-monied professional in the boardroom with a long established upbringing in the game. Add to this the the constant changing of managers, all with their own ideas of what sort of players the fans would appreciate. For some reason, Norwich City seemed to be a feeding ground for us.

 

[Andrew Keenan]

But who would benefit from the deterioration of City's finances? Swales was hardly responsible for asset stripping in his first few years as the only top player to go to a top team was Francis Lee IIRC.

It's important to realise that anyone who attended home games from 1983 to the late 1980s was a witness to fraud. Attendances during that period were typically underrecorded by around 7,000 per game. That meant that after each match there was a large pile of cash sitting at Maine Road that didn't officially exist. Which begs the question, "Where did it go?"

And once you accept that fraud was taking place, the next questions are, "When did it start, how much was taken, and who benefitted?"

I agree about the first few years of Swales' chairmanship. Swales and his associates didn't get control of City's finances until 1979, following the death of finance director John Humphreys.

Part seven of my Swales serialisation is now online:

How Peter Swales became City chairman (Pt 7)

7. Oh Rodney, Rodney

mcfchistory.substack.com

There are two more instalments left. In part eight I'll be mentioning some of Swales' business connections that I believe were tied to our decline.

 

[East Level 2]

It's important to realise that anyone who attended home games from 1983 to the late 1980s was a witness to fraud. Attendances during that period were typically underrecorded by around 7,000 per game. That meant that after each match there was a large pile of cash sitting at Maine Road that didn't officially exist. Which begs the question, "Where did it go?"

And once you accept that fraud was taking place, the next questions are, "When did it start, how much was taken, and who benefitted?"

I agree about the first few years of Swales' chairmanship. Swales and his associates didn't get control of City's finances until 1979, following the death of finance director John Humphreys.

Part seven of my Swales serialisation is now online:

How Peter Swales became City chairman (Pt 7)

7. Oh Rodney, Rodney

mcfchistory.substack.com

There are two more instalments left. In part eight I'll be mentioning some of Swales' business connections that I believe were tied to our decline.

I've always questioned the notion of under recorded attendances though many seemed much lower than they appeared.
Each turnstile was fitted with a non-resettable counter geared to increment each quarter turn and while the police couldn't care less about the reported attendances they would know financial offences were being committed if the cash received was higher than was being declared. - This assumes City had standard counters on the turnstiles.
I note you stated years 1983 to late 1980s, is this because you believe the police were likely to be more interested from a safety point of view following Hillsborough?