When should Swales have left?

[Blue Streak]

Interesting to hear peoples thoughts on this? Obviously we lost the 1974 League Cup Final to Wolves which he admitted himself was a shock after expecting to win it. But two years later we obviously beat Newcastle and then were runners up to Liverpool the following season. How did people respond to the spend/spend Allison return years? should he have gone before then?

Then the obvious milestones include the 1981 Cup Final loss, relegations in 83 and 87 and then the disaster that was the 1993 QF against Spurs the day the Umbro Stand was opened.

Perhaps when Howard Kendall was allowed to return to Goodison Park?

In the early years I've mentioned did City have alternative owners/chairman lined up. I know when Francis became active we had the likes of Mike McDonald sniffing around but what about before then?

Maybe one for Gary James perhaps?

 

[NPBlue]

He helped us with tickets when we were teenagers in the 70's, and I wouldn't say he was bad for the club in the early/mid 70's, but I think he lost the plot after he appointed Allison to replace Book and spunked millions on players that took us backwards.

It took us decades to recover from that period of madness, but he loved the limelight and was often on TV telling everyone the money was' staying in football, Brian'.

It was a general decline over decades. I don't personally think there is a date when it could be said he should have gone, but he had outstayed his welcome years before he finally went.

I'm not so sure Lee was much better than Swales for that matter, either. Swales had the club at heart, however misguided his stewardship may have been. Lee just wanted to make money out of us.

I have mixed feelings about Swales. Ultimately, he didn't set the club up for sustained success, but I also remember the help he gave my friends and I when we wanted tickets for big games, like the Wembley finals, when we were young, so maybe I'm a bit biased. I didn't have the hatred towards him that a lot of City fans did towards the end of his tenure.

 

[roman totale]

1972

 

[Damocles]

I'd be interested in reading some alternative history of City if Swales left in the 70s.

 

[paulchapo]

When he was appointed he said he would resign if we hadn't won a trophy in i think three years and we just scraped it worse luck!

He meant well and i still have two hand written replies from him when i sent him letters expressing concern at where the club was going. The problem was he was like a kind of Arthur Daley character ducking and diving until eventually there was no money left.We were a top of the table club when he took over and a shambles when he left,says it all really.

 

[petrusha]

In my book, the point at which he should have accepted that the club needed refinancing and that he'd need to step down to facilitate this (people wouldn't have put in the cash we needed without running the show) was in 1982, when we couldn't afford to keep Trevor Francis. This despite the fact that gate money in those days constituted the overwhelming majority of the revenue and that season we'd had the fourth highest attendances in the land (within 1,000 or so of Liverpool and Spurs, too, who were second and third in the average crowds table). His determination to cling on no matter what ensured that, over the next several seasons, we were one of the best supported sides in the land. However, whereas that should have given us the financial power to compete at the top table, it didn't. We were absolutely skint, which resulted in four seasons out of six in the old Division Two (at that time, the worst run since the 1890s).

 

[jimharri]

Interesting to hear peoples thoughts on this? Obviously we lost the 1974 League Cup Final to Wolves which he admitted himself was a shock after expecting to win it. But two years later we obviously beat Newcastle and then were runners up to Liverpool the following season. How did people respond to the spend/spend Allison return years? should he have gone before then?

Then the obvious milestones include the 1981 Cup Final loss, relegations in 83 and 87 and then the disaster that was the 1993 QF against Spurs the day the Umbro Stand was opened.

Perhaps when Howard Kendall was allowed to return to Goodison Park?

In the early years I've mentioned did City have alternative owners/chairman lined up. I know when Francis became active we had the likes of Mike McDonald sniffing around but what about before then?

Maybe one for Gary James perhaps?

Possibly the worst course of action our club ever did. It damned nearly killed us off. We were paying for that for 20-odd years, arguably until the Sheikh (though some might say Thaksin) came along. It was a crazy period. We had finished second (by a point) to a fantastic Liverpool side in 76/77, without our best player (CB). Yet, within a couple of years, that side had been dismantled by Allison, who bought in a load of substandard replacements for ludicrous money. With Swales' backing. Easy to look back with hindsight, but Swales should have gone in the summer of 77.

 

[Mike N]

The worst thing ever to happen to our club.

Im sure if Gary James contributes to this thread he can confirm that Swales took on a dynamic, financially successful club and turned it into a joke operation and nearly bankrupt us.

And please dont say he was a blue, because we are all blue. His ego was more important than his love for the club.

To answer the question, he should have been kicked out following his decision to bring Malcolm Allison back and allow him to ruin the team and get rid of all our international players.

 

[Damocles]

 

[Bill]

Interesting to hear peoples thoughts on this? Obviously we lost the 1974 League Cup Final to Wolves which he admitted himself was a shock after expecting to win it. But two years later we obviously beat Newcastle and then were runners up to Liverpool the following season. How did people respond to the spend/spend Allison return years? should he have gone before then?

Then the obvious milestones include the 1981 Cup Final loss, relegations in 83 and 87 and then the disaster that was the 1993 QF against Spurs the day the Umbro Stand was opened.

Perhaps when Howard Kendall was allowed to return to Goodison Park?

In the early years I've mentioned did City have alternative owners/chairman lined up. I know when Francis became active we had the likes of Mike McDonald sniffing around but what about before then?

Maybe one for Gary James perhaps?

the return of allison and the appointment of alan fucking ball were "milestones" that ruined our club. both unbelievably bad appointments. the first was naieve, the second disastarous from the very first day.
it took a billionaire to come along to fix things.

we are a very very lucky club.