Were you Swales out, or Swales in?

[the kippax kid]

Remember one protest when my dad who was a friend of swales was in the directors box,at the end of the game i left the north stand to go and meet him at the main gates only to see 4000 fans shouting fuck off swales.I went and asked a police man if he would let me get to my dad who was behind the main gate looking for me and was told to fuck off by the police man!
So i then started chanting fuck off swales with the rest of them until another police man let me in as my dad had seen me,then went into players lounge and shook hands with mr swales and had a cup of tea.

funny story

 

[Sef]

Wasn't everyone Swales out ?

NO! The "Official!" Supporters club (1949) decided to back Swales! and keep all the perks and privileges (TICKETS) they received from him and in the process lost at least 5 branches, Stockport, Chadderton, West Yorkshire, Stretford, Blackley.
We were told to back Swales or risk losing any privileges!!!! so we stuck 2 fingers up and formed a new organisation the "Independent Supporters Association" (ISA), and backed Francis Lee and the "Forward with Franny" campaign. We got involved in quite a bit and when Francis Lee took control we were rewarded by being recognized as a Supporters Association but the board did not like the name "Independent" so asked us to change, which we did to the "Centenary Supporters Association" (CSA), which has since re-joined to "Supporters Club" on the request of the NEW owners!!

 

[mrt4919]

I was merely being flippant - as the rest of my comments I agree wholeheartedly. He was a true city fan and loved the club - he just couldn't see that he was killing it... frannie on the other hand... oh, right, err, bollocks.

I couldnt disagree more.

Swales was an opportunist with no affinity to City. He came in from Altrincham as a neutral with the remit to forge a strong board from warring takeover factions. He stuffed the board with cronies like Boler who had no interest in football and being Chairman it served as the platform for Swales to prosper within the FA hierachy. Noel White, his business partner, secured a place on the Liverpool board which was under the patronage of the Moores family.

Swales took over when City was a top club. We had overtaken United and had one of the best teams and grounds in the country. He loved City as one would a golden goose. He clearly loved the power, attention and status it brought. He liked to play the tycoon with gestures of pure vanity in buying £1m players whilst neglecting to apply basic business principles. Patronising to his own ends. The City/Allison/Bond tv documentary said it all.

The club was funadamentally so badly run that the downward spiral was inevitable under his stewardship. No manager stood a chance. If he had cared about the club he would have stepped aside. His initial remit was an interim role as "neutral honest broker" but power does have a tendency to corrupt. Financially it proved a nice earner too until there was nothing left to take out or flog off. Even then he clung on, holding out for rewards to leave. He knew what he was doing alright.

Frannie at least stopped the slide into oblivion. The problems off the field overtook those on the field. Lee actually does care about City and laid some foundations for the future like the move to the Etihad. He did things wrong but Makin & Wardle and Shinawatra also found that City was a black hole for investment. Compare the investment by ADUG in infrastructure and management.

Remember how Swales sold Lee to Cloughs Derby where he won another league champions medal? An early gesture of pique rather than strong management. Also remember that the White and Swales chain of electrical and record shops quickly slipped into oblivion once they had secured a place on footballs gravy train. Some of us do remember.

100% This ^^^^^^

Nailed on except that on his appointment he declared that he would drive the club to overtake the rags in attendance and trophy's.
We backed him totally, he seemed to share our hatred for them.
We damn well did it on attendance for a brief period but he sold everything that was not nailed down chasing our collective ambition.
Swales was a Blue there was not a doubt on that at the time.
Every Blue shared the same ambition to dominate the rags, he was our man.
Swales blindly stuck to his declared intention all the way through driving the club into poverty with bad decisions and judgement. Looking back it was almost as though we had dragged a fan from the Kippax, totally out of his depth but following a mandate until all hope was gone and we were on a severe downward spiral.
It reads like a Greek tragedy, the guy died shortly after the coup by Lee but still in love with the football club and hated by the fans.
He hung on to something he loved because he would not let go and I can understand that because I love the club as well and in the same position who knows ?
Winning that 81 FA Cup may well have turned the tide for him and us but we lost and the writing was on the wall but he ignored it and the ending inevitable.

 

[andyhinch]

If ever a question didn't need asking this is it

 

[paulchapo]

I couldnt disagree more.

Swales was an opportunist with no affinity to City. He came in from Altrincham as a neutral with the remit to forge a strong board from warring takeover factions. He stuffed the board with cronies like Boler who had no interest in football and being Chairman it served as the platform for Swales to prosper within the FA hierachy. Noel White, his business partner, secured a place on the Liverpool board which was under the patronage of the Moores family.

Swales took over when City was a top club. We had overtaken United and had one of the best teams and grounds in the country. He loved City as one would a golden goose. He clearly loved the power, attention and status it brought. He liked to play the tycoon with gestures of pure vanity in buying £1m players whilst neglecting to apply basic business principles. Patronising to his own ends. The City/Allison/Bond tv documentary said it all.

The club was funadamentally so badly run that the downward spiral was inevitable under his stewardship. No manager stood a chance. If he had cared about the club he would have stepped aside. His initial remit was an interim role as "neutral honest broker" but power does have a tendency to corrupt. Financially it proved a nice earner too until there was nothing left to take out or flog off. Even then he clung on, holding out for rewards to leave. He knew what he was doing alright.

Frannie at least stopped the slide into oblivion. The problems off the field overtook those on the field. Lee actually does care about City and laid some foundations for the future like the move to the Etihad. He did things wrong but Makin & Wardle and Shinawatra also found that City was a black hole for investment. Compare the investment by ADUG in infrastructure and management.

Remember how Swales sold Lee to Cloughs Derby where he won another league champions medal? An early gesture of pique rather than strong management. Also remember that the White and Swales chain of electrical and record shops quickly slipped into oblivion once they had secured a place on footballs gravy train. Some of us do remember.

100% This ^^^^^^

Nailed on except that on his appointment he declared that he would drive the club to overtake the rags in attendance and trophy's.
We backed him totally, he seemed to share our hatred for them.
We damn well did it on attendance for a brief period but he sold everything that was not nailed down chasing our collective ambition.
Swales was a Blue there was not a doubt on that at the time.
Every Blue shared the same ambition to dominate the rags, he was our man.
Swales blindly stuck to his declared intention all the way through driving the club into poverty with bad decisions and judgement. Looking back it was almost as though we had dragged a fan from the Kippax, totally out of his depth but following a mandate until all hope was gone and we were on a severe downward spiral.
It reads like a Greek tragedy, the guy died shortly after the coup by Lee but still in love with the football club and hated by the fans.
He hung on to something he loved because he would not let go and I can understand that because I love the club as well and in the same position who knows ?
Winning that 81 FA Cup may well have turned the tide for him and us but we lost and the writing was on the wall but he ignored it and the ending inevitable.

I have posted before on Peter Swales and these two posts more or less sum up the guy and his time,although i will go with the latter one more.

Sure he loved the fame and kudos being chairman of City brought....he made FA chairman for a while......but he also loved the club.The problem was he couldn't see that he was killing the very thing he loved the most and it was painful to watch.

Strangely enough with a little bit of luck and tweaking it could all have been so different.After we came runners up to Liverpool,or just prior,we bought Channon and they bought Daglish.We know the rest.The cataylst was the disaster Allison's second coming was.At the time i remember reading about the plans,Allison back,mega investment and like every City fan i was excited.This was it!.....Only it wasn't and aside from the 1981 cup final it ruined us until the takeover.

I still have two hand written replies to letters he sent me in the 1980's,not many take that time and effort.I saw him in Altrincham a few weeks before he died and i said hello.He said hello back but looked haunted and wary and i never pursued the conversation.Now i wished i had.

In effect the tragedy that was Peter Swales chairmanship sums up perfectly what our great club was all about and hopefully never will be again.

 

[mrt4919]

100% This ^^^^^^

Nailed on except that on his appointment he declared that he would drive the club to overtake the rags in attendance and trophy's.
We backed him totally, he seemed to share our hatred for them.
We damn well did it on attendance for a brief period but he sold everything that was not nailed down chasing our collective ambition.
Swales was a Blue there was not a doubt on that at the time.
Every Blue shared the same ambition to dominate the rags, he was our man.
Swales blindly stuck to his declared intention all the way through driving the club into poverty with bad decisions and judgement. Looking back it was almost as though we had dragged a fan from the Kippax, totally out of his depth but following a mandate until all hope was gone and we were on a severe downward spiral.
It reads like a Greek tragedy, the guy died shortly after the coup by Lee but still in love with the football club and hated by the fans.
He hung on to something he loved because he would not let go and I can understand that because I love the club as well and in the same position who knows ?
Winning that 81 FA Cup may well have turned the tide for him and us but we lost and the writing was on the wall but he ignored it and the ending inevitable.

I have posted before on Peter Swales and these two posts more or less sum up the guy and his time,although i will go with the latter one more.

Sure he loved the fame and kudos being chairman of City brought....he made FA chairman for a while......but he also loved the club.The problem was he couldn't see that he was killing the very thing he loved the most and it was painful to watch.

Strangely enough with a little bit of luck and tweaking it could all have been so different.After we came runners up to Liverpool,or just prior,we bought Channon and they bought Daglish.We know the rest.The cataylst was the disaster Allison's second coming was.At the time i remember reading about the plans,Allison back,mega investment and like every City fan i was excited.This was it!.....Only it wasn't and aside from the 1981 cup final it ruined us until the takeover.

I still have two hand written replies to letters he sent me in the 1980's,not many take that time and effort.I saw him in Altrincham a few weeks before he died and i said hello.He said hello back but looked haunted and wary and i never pursued the conversation.Now i wished i had.

In effect the tragedy that was Peter Swales chairmanship sums up perfectly what our great club was all about and hopefully never will be again.

Its odd but with hindsight I sort of admire the guy, a good soldier following orders but dragging us into the abyss without questioning what he had agreed to do. This situation could not happen at any other football club.The passion we generate is unknown and overlooked outside our fan base. Cannot recall any situation in which supporter power alone over a period demanded and led to a change of ownership in a football club.We are and always have been unique both as fans and a football club of Prima Donna proportions.

 

[OneTonyHenry]

Every so often he gets sympathy when the old lies of "intimidation at his house and his old mum in her hospital bed" are trotted out. No one in the media ever managed to show us any proof that that happened despite claims from his side.

No one ever gives me sympathy for the dross I had to put up with year after year while this jumped up corner shop owner ran our great club into the ground. He was an egotistical parasite and held our club back from his earliest days, while massaging his own image and benefitting from his position amongst the elite and the FA.

Now I'm a very patient man but to took all my control not to disturb his minutes silence at Maine Road with a big @#$*&^ "Swales Out!"

They say he was a big City fan - well I saw precious little evidence, and time has not yet healed!!!

 

[Mr Ed (The Stables)]

Did you demo, or did you walk away?

Sang Swales out from the Kippax, but went straight home or pub after the match, I never joined a demo after the match.

 

[paulchapo]

M331Sydney I can understand this viewpoint too.Year after year of broken promises and disappointment.Looking back it was almost criminal and a great many people died knowing only this and that is why i shed a tear when we won the league and cup.I NEVER thought i would see success again in my lifetime and certainly not the league title.

It is also why every true football fan who didn't support the rags leapt in joy when Aguero's shot hit the back of the net.They knew the pain we had endured and felt that raw outpouring of utter joy at it's ending.

 

[pauldominic]

Did you demo, or did you walk away?

He was an egocentric idiot with a crap record shop in Alty.

I walked away on many occasions with tears because I didn't understand what was happening.