The look on Franny Lee’s face after the ball flew in is the part Barry Davies remembers of a goal that encapsulated the man in so many ways, and was so special that the commentator has shared in his legend.
“Interesting,” said Davies, from behind a microphone, on a December evening in 1974, as Lee retrieved a ball from Derby teammate David Nish in front of a Radio Rentals billboard on Maine Road, which stretched around Manchester City’s defense and drove to the edge of the box.
‘Very interesting!’ Davies continued, while Lee fired a sweet right-foot shot past Joe Corrigan. And then, as Lee happily rode away, came Davies’ equally legendary observation. “Oh, look at his face! Just look at his face!’
When news of Lee’s death, at the age of 79, arrived on Monday, Davies recalled those golden moments. ‘He looked like a schoolboy who had done something remarkable and knew it. That was Franny all the way,” Davies said Mailsportthinking about how repeating a few short words, rather than saying a lot, had created a useful soundtrack.
It was ‘Franny all over’ as the goal reflected the supreme confidence of a great striker who made his name in the prime years of Joe Mercer’s title-winning City side, before leaving under a cloud that never cleared. with the intention of obtaining some justification.
Francis Lee died on Monday at the age of 79 and will be remembered as one of English football’s greatest characters
Lee was one of Manchester City’s most famous players, scoring 148 goals in 300 appearances for the club
Barry Davies’ comment in 1974, in which he called a Lee goal ‘interesting’ before telling listeners to ‘look at his face’, saw the man
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Bolton was reluctant to sell him to City for £60,000, but he walked away from the club anyway, having already withdrawn himself from a contract. He was out for three weeks before starring in four years of opulent, iridescent city glory.
The secret maneuvers in which Lee was asked to drive from a Bolton car park, in his second-hand Austin Cambridge, to a meeting with City, whose identity remains unknown to him, almost led to him running out of petrol on the outskirts of Manchester to sit. .
City had just been defeated by Manchester United and found themselves on the edge of the First Division relegation zone. But Lee followed Mike Summerbee, Colin Todd, Tony Book and Neil Young into a side that became a legend with victories at Old Trafford, White Hart Lane and St James’ Park in the spring of 1968, winning the title in his first season.
Lee scored the decisive goal in the 4–3 win over Newcastle on the final day, securing that title, as well as the winning penalty in the European Cup Winners’ Cup final victory over Gornik Zabrze and a ‘perfect’ hat-trick against city rivals United in 1970.
He and Allison shared an unwavering faith. When they first met at a social club in Bolton, Allison told the striker that he would make him a great player. “Well, thank you very much, but I think I’m doing pretty well right now,” Lee replied.
Allison liked the way Lee approached the game. ‘He expected to win and when he didn’t, he wasn’t so much disappointed as surprised. It was an offense against nature,” he reflected.
He had a reputation for diving that some considered harsh, with the nickname ‘Lee Won Pen’ being the successor to ‘Lee One Pen’. But it wasn’t all clinical precalculation. This was the player who, after a ‘human difference’ with Leeds United’s Norman Hunter in 1975, threw several punches in the enforcer’s direction.
It’s now a YouTube classic. “It wasn’t an act, you know,” Lee said in later years. ‘He had tapped me on the shoulder, hit me and split my lip with a gold ring.’
Lee started his career at Bolton Wanderers before signing for City in 1967 for a record fee of £60,000. Here he is pictured watching Man City against Blackpool in the 1997/98 season.
He died after a long battle with cancer, having played for City, Bolton Wanderers and Derby County
There was hubris in Allison’s strong belief, when he took over from Mercer, that ‘we will win the European Cup’. We will frighten Europe.” Lee’s position was threatened in 1972 when Allison signed Rodney Marsh – ‘Big Mal’s big mistake’ as he later put it. And when Peter Swales arrived as chairman it was the beginning of the end of those best years of his life.
Lee threatened to walk away if City did not accept Derby’s £100,000 bid. He made it clear to Swales what the club was missing. That goal for Dave MacKay’s Derby against City helped his new teammates to the 1974/75 title.
Lee was then an established England international. He won a total of 27 caps, scoring ten times, made his debut in 1968 and played in the team that reached the quarter-finals of the 1970 World Cup.
He also won 27 caps for England during his career, scoring 10 goals – pictured here against Scotland in May 1971
There was another chapter with City that for some will always cloud the memory of his role in their first great side. He bought the club from Swales in 1994, purchasing £3m worth of shares, and promised to bring back days of ‘champagne and happiness’ as chairman. He categorically did not.
Four deeply unhappy and unsuccessful years were filled with poor management appointments that sent the club into a downward spiral. On this occasion it was Lee who delivered the commentary that would be remembered for decades.
“If there were trophies awarded for cock-ups you wouldn’t be able to move in the City boardroom,” he admitted. City were relegated to the second tier and were on their way to the third tier when he resigned in 1998.
The most painful aspect was the split with two of the great teams of the 1970s. He removed both Book and Colin Bell from youth coaching and delegated the job to club secretary Bernard Halford, who dismissed them from a rented office. Bell, who died in 2021, said he could never forgive Lee.
Lee is pictured after scoring the goal that won City the championship in 1968
Lee took his confidence into the world of racehorse training, averaging 25 wins per season for six years before retiring in 2001. He retained City shares until sold to Thaksin Shinawatra in 2007 and had continued to regularly attend City matches.
There were no days like his City playing days. When the BBC made a film about Davies’ career to mark his departure in 2018, Lee was interviewed about that goal.
“He preferred to play it down,” Davies said on Monday, reflecting his sadness at the player’s passing after a long battle with cancer. “I got the impression he just didn’t want to brag about it.”
But Lee never forgot the reaction that night from the City fans, who collectively recognized the beauty of the final goal he scored in their stadium. “It was amazing how all the fans had stood up and applauded,” Lee recalled many years later. ‘You’d think I’d scored for City!’