Where does Francis Lee rate?

Yeah that's a fair comment.

I remember something in possibly Shoot football annual with a double page spread on Franny & John Richards for Wolves. Discussing different styles of play and effectiveness.

The Franny part of the article started with ......Nobody spits and snarls more than Francis Lee..... that line has stuck in my head for more years than I care to remember.

Bet that was a good article, can't remember it. Despite making me cry, I could never bring myself to hate John Richards the way I could some other players. A bit like Franny he went back to serve his club albeit as MD rather than Chairman and in slightly less tumultuous circumstances.

As beloved as John Richards is by Wolves fans Franny is a notch up again both as a player and the esteem in which he was held across the game.
 
That team of the late sixties/early seventies is when I started going to football games and so will always be special to me. If we had the exposure then football gets now people would still be talking about them. Franny was the glamour/golden boy back then. A tenacious, skilful and aggressive striker. Built like a small tank, barrel chested and ploughing through the mud, often to finish with a ferocious strike into the net. As others have said, in style and build,Tevez from the modern era resembled him the most.

Where do I rate him overall? Right up there. King Colin, Buzzer, Silva, Toure, De Bruyne, Aguero, Franny. He would certainly get into this City side.

On a sidenote it saddens me Neil Young doesn't get the recognition his contribution merits too.
 
He was in the right place at the right time, Manchester City was going places and money was invested in promising young talent by the club, We also had the very best in football management and coaching in Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison,

I always say football is a team sport but it helps when you have 3 or 4 players that are world-class to win you games.
Lee Summerbee Bell, Scare the life out of teams and worked as a unit around a very good setup,
And of course, it wasn’t just the Holy Trinity that were outstanding.

Doyle and Oakes were excellent half-backs. Book and Pardoe were brilliant full-backs. Nellie scored as many goals as anyone.

And as you said, Sir Joe and Big Mal were a world-class management team. Malcolm took training and Joe took care of the details. Also, they had a similar philosophy of how the game should be played.
 
Another thing to remember when comparing players like Francis Lee to modern day players is the state of the pitches that they played on.
He was pretty rapid, but some of those pitches in the sixties were mudbaths.
 

Two blokes, one from nearby, the other from practically the other end of the country, brought together by Joe and Mal, formed a lifelong love of the club and a great friendship for each other.

And both have put far more into Manchester City than they took out.
 
He’s right up there. It’s what 60 odd years since he first started playing for us?

His name has past down through generations of families and fans. I was born in 94 and my dad and grandad both told me about him. You don’t get that with many players at all.

players like Trautman, Bell and Lee are on another level right now for me. I’m not sure if some of our current players will be talked about in the same way in 60 years. Aguero 100% will.
 
He’s right up there. It’s what 60 odd years since he first started playing for us?

His name has past down through generations of families and fans. I was born in 94 and my dad and grandad both told me about him. You don’t get that with many players at all.

players like Trautman, Bell and Lee are on another level right now for me. I’m not sure if some of our current players will be talked about in the same way in 60 years. Aguero 100% will.

The key player that wins us first Champions League will also be remembered like Aguero.
 

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