Franny Lee

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Franny Lee
Franny Lee.jpg
Franny Lee (center) 2007
Personnel
Surname Francis Henry Lee
birthday April 29, 1944
place of birth WesthoughtonEngland
size 173 cm
position striker
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1959-1967 Bolton Wanderers 189 0(92)
1967-1974 Manchester City 248 (112)
1974-1976 Derby County 62 0(24)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1968-1972 England 27 0(10)
1 Only league games are given.

Francis Henry "Franny" Lee CBE (born April 29, 1944 in Westhoughton ) is a former English football player and 27-time national player for his country. After playing as a footballer, Lee was also president of his long-time club Manchester City in the 1990s .

Athletic career

The striker , who is relatively short at 1.73 meters, began his career with the local Bolton Wanderers and made his debut in the First Division , the top English division at the time , at the age of only 16 . In the following years Lee was able to develop steadily to become a regular player, but rose with his club in 1964 in the Second Division and had to complete three seasons there. With his strong goal rank and the preference for a more physically than technically oriented style of play, the spirited center forward scored a total of 92 goals in the second division and was thus one of the most successful players there. Since Bolton failed to return to the top class, Lee asked for clearance for the transfer to a higher-class club.

The Bolton Wanderers initially rejected Lee's plans, with the result that Lee went on strike at the beginning of the 1967/68 season. Only a few weeks later, the club's management gave in and had Lee move to Manchester City in October for a transfer fee of 60,000 pounds . There he found himself quickly and formed a very successful storm trio with Colin Bell and Mike Summerbee under the trainer Joe Mercer . Behind Neil Young , Bell was the second-best goalscorer with 16 goals and scored the decisive seventh goal in the 4-3 win at Newcastle United on the final day of the game, giving Manchester City the championship two points ahead of local rivals Manchester United .

The following season Lee continued with two goals in the 6-1 win in the Charity Shield against West Bromwich Albion with a good form and he was used in the international match against Bulgaria in November 1968 for the first time in the English national team. At the end of the season, Lee won the FA Cup with Manchester City after beating Leicester City 1-0 in the final at Wembley .

Only one year later he expanded his trophy collection and won his first league cup (against West Bromwich Albion in the final) after victories against Athletic Bilbao and FC Schalke 04 the European Cup Winners' Cup , defeating Górnik Zabrze 2-1 in the Vienna final . Lee scored the goal to make it 2-0 with a penalty . Then Lee was appointed to the squad for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico and used there in three of the four games. He was part of the team that lost 3-2 to the team from Germany in the quarter-finals after extra time . In this game, Lee drew attention to himself mainly with a punch he dealt the German goalkeeper Sepp Maier .

After a mediocre season and an intermittent high point, a hat trick Lee to 4-1 win at Old Trafford against Manchester United, Lee was able to intervene with Manchester City in the 1971/72 season again in the fight for the English championship and closed in the end only one point behind the Derby County champions in fourth place. Lee scored 35 goals in the season, which is a club record to this day (only Shaun Goater was able to reach the 30-goal mark again in the 2001/02 season). At the European Championships in 1972 he failed again with England against the German team, with Lee marking the goal for the interim 1: 1 in the 1: 3 first leg defeat. In the second leg Lee was not used.

The departure of coach Malcolm Allison in the course of the 1972/73 season heralded the end of the successful time of Manchester City and Lee leveled off with his club in the midfield of the league. Also for the national team Lee came after ten goals in 27 games since 1972 to no international match and fell out with President Peter Swales at the end of the 1973/74 season , as a result of which Lee then moved to Derby County for £ 100,000 .

As in Manchester, Lee won the English championship directly in his first season with Derby under Dave Mackay . He was supported by an above-average midfield , in which players like Bruce Rioch , Archie Gemmill and Henry Newton stood. In the following season, which was Lee's last, he was able to build on the good performances both nationally and internationally. After the last game of the season against Ipswich Town , the Derby won 6-2 after two goals from Lee, Lee resigned from active football.

Lee as club president

In 1993, with the support of the supporters, Lee took over the presidency of Manchester City after a fight lasting several months and implemented his plan to make the club more professional. As the club had limited financial resources, Lee fired several veteran players such as Niall Quinn , Garry Flitcroft and Keith Curle . In addition, he installed a new coach with Alan Ball . Despite new players such as Giorgi Kinkladse , the decline of the club could not be prevented and City had, for the first time in its history, to relegate to the third division after the 1997/98 season. Shortly before, Lee had announced his resignation and was replaced by David Bernstein .

Others

  • Although Lee has always been a good penalty taker for his clubs, he missed his only two penalty kicks for the English national team.
  • Lee has had a great passion for horse racing since his playing days .
  • At the 2016 New Year ceremony, Lee was named Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II .

successes

Web links