Peter Swales

[bernabias home shirt]

To the op
Ignore half the shit on here
He wasn't all that bad.

 

[EL APACHE TEVEZ]

The bastard tried is best to ruin our club,all the shit about how much he loved city,he was creaming the club of every penny with is fucking rag twat mate pye.

 

[Gingers Dad]

Swales did not have City's best interests at heart. He was a vulgar, 2 bob millionaire of a business man who made absolute fortunes out of City. Manchester City gave Swales power, prestige and wealth, and in return he made the club a laughing stock.

 

[Gary James]

He made huge mistakes, i dont hate him though, i never did and never will.

He wanted the very very best for City, that will do for me. Citys failures hurt him, hurt his family and yes they hurt us as fans. But we all hurt together.

Under Swales in the late 70s we were a fantastic team, we qualified for Europe regularly, we had players such as the likes of Hartford, Tueart, Barnes, Watson, Channon. We were the big four then alonside the rags, Liverpool and Everton. No London team was close.

One year we got within 4k of the rags average attendance, we have broke it since we moved to the etihad.

If he was guily of anything it was over ambition and it fucked us up for years, but he got close without any money

Swales tried his best but it wasn't good enough and his ambition was to match Utd - that was his downfall.

A few key points that have to be remembered to put it all into context...

- Before Swales City were a profitable football club almost every season from the 1930s (and some before) through to the 1970 takeover that ultimately put him in power.
- The 1970 takeover gave Swales the opportunity to join the Board, but he was not the key figure behind it (he wasn't directly involved at first).
- Those that took over the club in 1970 couldn't appreciate how significant City already were, and they pushed for control which, ultimately, split Mercer & Allison. By the time the takeover was fully resolved and Swales came in as, self-proclaimed, 'peace-maker' chairman both Mercer & Allison had left.
- Swales had few shares in City until the 1980s struggles when he was able to get hold of them relatively cheaply because no one wanted to invest in the club (a situation you could easily argue was created by poor management of the club).
- He took the club from a period of financial strength and trophy success to one of huge debts and little success.
- Maine Rd went from being a stadium that was being modernised (last act of the Alexanders was the building of the North Stand and a plan to build a new modern Kippax) into one that was being downgraded in terms of stature (the Kippax plans were not pursued; a later rebuilding programme was cut short after a new Main Stand roof; the 9,000+ capacity seated Platt Lane was replaced by one seating less than £5k; the Kippax was planned to have seats simply bolted on to the new terracing - fortunately he'd left before that could happen).

Peter Swales did love City, but he was not in the end a successful chairman. I don't blame him for his actions (not all anyway), but I do think those who pushed for power in 1970 and then kept Swales in his position for so long must take a large proportion of the blame.

Oh and then there was Swales record with managers starting with the one he appointed and sacked within 6 months (after saying that he would leave as well if the manager failed!).

 

[Gary James]

if you go on <a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_City_F.C._ownership_and_finances" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester ... d_finances</a> it says: ''Swales was offered a role as life president at the club'' and '' It was a sad departure for a chairman who loyally invested large sums of money into Manchester City'' this sounds to me like a well liked chairman rather than a hated man

Someone who writes for Wikipedia should change that!

 

[reedy]

Swales was without doubt misguided, but he loved City and wanted them to be the best team in England. He was obsessed with outdoing the scum and in his persuit of success he virtually bankrupted the club.
eg. Steve Daley 1.5m (record transfer) Micky Robinson from Preston 850,000 ish. to name just 2.
ultimatley , he was dreadful for the club.. but i do believe he had the clubs best interests in his heart

 

[Lancet Fluke]

At the time I honestly believed he was the worst chairman any club could possibly have. Then Franny Lee came in...

 

[twinkletoes]

To the op
Ignore half the shit on here
He wasn't all that bad.

Why did people circulate leaflets with his address on then?

 

[bernabias home shirt]

To the op
Ignore half the shit on here
He wasn't all that bad.

Why did people circulate leaflets with his address on then?

I'm just saying he wasnt all bad,he did love city you know
Like others have said I think his obsession with the rags and toppling them was his downfall.

 

[twinkletoes]

To the op
Ignore half the shit on here
He wasn't all that bad.

Why did people circulate leaflets with his address on then?

I'm just saying he wasnt all bad,he did love city you know
Like others have said I think his obsession with the rags and toppling them was his downfall.

No it was our downfall.

I knew people at the time that were really serious about murdering him.