Swales Out!

What really irked me about Swales was the total mess that he made of Maine Road on his watch. The final insult was the new Kippax Stand that was bequeathed to Francis Lee by Swales. I gather that Lee wanted a redesign to increase its capacity but there was insufficient time (or money) to do so.
 
blueste41 said:
I remember when I was quite young the whole of the kippax turning their backs to the pitch during play for quite some time! I have no recollection of why, even though I joined in! Can anyone enlighten me?
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Trying to get the Poznan going 20 odd years ahead of its time?
 
disley blue boy said:
does anyone actualy remember when the swales out slogan first appeared,my first recollection of it was after a very depressing one nil defeat at home to notts county in feb 83 when a few windows in the main stand got smashed and the police horses charged us.people seemed to start realising at that point that the slippery slope was leading to relegation,and all swale,s promises and bull was starting to implode.i don,t remember anything happening prior to this .
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My recollection is that the disillusionment with Swales started after Allison's ill-fated return and the dismantling of what had been a very good side, with Owen, Barnes, Donachie, Kidd, Hartford etc all leaving in a fairly short space of time and being replaced by untried kids and largely expensive flops. I'm sure we had "Swales Out" chants around 1980-ish if not actual demos, then when Bond arrived and we had those Cup runs it went quiet for a bit.

I do remember not long after Swales became chairman he appointed Ron Saunders with the comment "if he fails I'll resign". Saunders was sacked after about 6 months, Swales stayed for another 20 years!
 
given_is_ironman said:
I'm 25, don't remember the Swales era although I do remember the Franny Lee era, Why you old timers wanted him in I'll never know!! Having ex players back as managers/coaches yeah but not as owners, they lead with (in our case) blue tinted glasses. Idiots the lot of you!! ;)
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Frannie had been a very popular player and is still many supporters' - including me - favourite player.

He had become a successful businessman, which he started before he even joined City by collecting waste paper in his spare time and recycling it.

Unfortunately, even he didn't realise the mess that City had become under Swales. The owned neither the club crest nor the store, which was run by one of Swales' mates for his own benefit.

And although we were unsuccessful on the pitch, a lot of the things that we see today were put in place under Lee's Chairmanship, including the move to the new stadium and greater use of corporate facilities.

And I know we will never know, but maybe HH Sheikh Mansour would not have bought the club were it not for FHL stepping in when he did.
 
I try and blank out Franny as a chairman, and just try and remember Franny as a player. And what a player he was.....
 
Swales stayed far, far too long. He tried his best but he was genuinely a fan, which hindered our progress not helped it. I remember being arrested at Villa in 1990 and I wrote to the club asking for their support and advice. Swales personally wrote me a letter and instructed another Director to give me a reference, help where he could, etc. Doesn't sound much but he could easily have ignored a plea from a fan, especially in the circumstances and how all footy fans were loathed as hooligans at that time. He tried his best and his heart was in the right place, despite overall it being a massive failure.
 
Bluemoon dan said:
blueste41 said:
I remember when I was quite young the whole of the kippax turning their backs to the pitch during play for quite some time! I have no recollection of why, even though I joined in! Can anyone enlighten me?
Click to expand...

Trying to get the Poznan going 20 odd years ahead of its time?
Click to expand...


Lol

Come on someone must remember this, it definitely happened?
 
blueste41 said:
Bluemoon dan said:
blueste41 said:
I remember when I was quite young the whole of the kippax turning their backs to the pitch during play for quite some time! I have no recollection of why, even though I joined in! Can anyone enlighten me?
Click to expand...

Trying to get the Poznan going 20 odd years ahead of its time?
Click to expand...


Lol

Come on someone must remember this, it definitely happened?
Click to expand...

I think we did that when were plummeting down to Division Three as well.
 
His early years were a bit before my time tbh, but I remember reading that he was basically invited onto the board as a kind of peacemaker/buffer between the split factions on the board, which was soon followed by the coup de grace . Football wise, I never forgave him for selling Trevor Francis to pay for a new fuckin roof on the Main stand.
 
Set us back many years I'm afraid. Remember well some of those protests outside the main stand. In a strange way though, it makes these happier times all the sweeter.
 
haha i still have an evening news with me and my mate on the front page chucking a metal crush barrier at the main entrance.



i was about 16 and my mum went mad:(
 
Used to go to the AGMs with my old man. God they were fun - looked forward to it more than that week's game.

Various faces would launch into lengthy verbal attacks against Swales who would listen patiently, all the while messing about with his wig. When the speaker had finished Swales seemingly always used to compliment them for making some very good points which he "would take on board" and then moved on to the next irate speaker. Wisecracks were shouted at regular intervals from the floor and to be fair to him Swales took it all in good spirit and had a nice dry sense of humour.

It was brilliant stuff, like being at a Bernard Manning gig
 
i went to blackburn v wigan on the monday night after newcastle away on the sunday with my wife (free tickets)
i was absolutly loving football after our win at newcastle with qpr to come on the sunday
i was amazed at the passion and anger aimed at venkys and kean from the first minute, there was not one song in favour of the team just abuse and a chicken on the pitch !!!
but not to feel outdone and to fit in with the locals i just had to roar out one swales out chant and laugh at how far we had come
i once played football for a team in defence and our offside trap worked well when we all shouted swales out and stepped out !!!
 
I had broken my leg playing football and had "Swales Out" written in big letters in jumbo marker down the front of my plaster cast, which made its way onto the TV news coverage of one of the big pre-match protests.
There was a vicar who was one of the leaders of the campaign to oust Swales. A middle-aged, grey haired Blue in a dog collar trying to persuade hundreds of angry, beered-up footy lads to do a 'sit-in' on the concourse in front of the main entrance, in the style of San Francisco in 1968, was none of the many surreal sights of that time.
There was the famous Ipswich game which was abandoned for a waterlogged pitch when we were 2-0 up, and loads of us stayed on the Kippax until 4.45pm, chanting Swales out and even whistling for the non-existent ref to blow for time.
I remember the Mirror were Franny's mouthpiece at the time, even doing Forward With Franny badges, and loved stirring the shit.
 
There is a picture of me in a book called Rebellion: The football protest movements.

I'm in the middle of the book with a "Swales out flag". My claim to fame although I do look like a young Rick Astley on the picture!!!
 
I was four when he was deposed and while i had already been to a few games I remember little

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/peter-swales-obituary-1346086.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.independent.co.uk/news/peopl ... 46086.html</a>
 
I can tell you a true story about when I met Swales. He very kindly offered me a lift in the minibus meeting him & City directors at Gatwick when the flight he and I were on (from Mcr) was much delayed and we were playing at Brighton (got stuffed 4-0). I sat at the back of the vehicle and listened while PS talked football with his cronies. I tell you, I have rarely heard so much rubbish spouted about the game. I was shocked - I thought, "This man is not only in charge of City, he is instrumental in picking the England manager!"
I didn't doubt his loyalty to City, but his judgment was less than average. As someone has posted, the job at Maine Road was too big for him. His blank cheque policy with Allison all but ruined us.
 
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