Francis Henry Lee
Source: Web (obitt.com)
Sports & Athletics • Historical Archive • 🇬🇧 Great Britain • 23 views

Francis Henry Lee 🇬🇧

Francis Lee (Known as "Franny Lee")
["footballer","striker","entrepreneur","club_chairman"]
Born Apr 29, 1944 🇬🇧 Westhoughton, Great Britain
Passed Away Oct 02, 2023 Wilmslow, United Kingdom
Lifespan 79 years old
23 views
Notice / Correction
"We played with joy and aggression. When you ran onto that pitch with City, you knew you could beat anyone in the world."

Archival Overview

Dynamo English football striker who formed Manchester City's fabled late-1960s triumvirate with Colin Bell and Mike Summerbee, winning every domestic and European honor, and later building a multi-million-pound toilet paper empire.

Biographical Record

Francis Henry Lee was born in Westhoughton, Lancashire. Starting at Bolton Wanderers, he transferred to Manchester City in 1967 for a then-club record fee of £60,000, with manager Joe Mercer calling him the "final piece of the jigsaw."

Stocky, explosive, and fearless, "Franny" formed City's iconic golden triumvirate alongside Colin Bell and Mike Summerbee. Lee scored the decisive goal at Newcastle to clinch the 1968 First Division championship, followed by the FA Cup in 1969, the League Cup in 1970, and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1970 (scoring the winning penalty against Górnik Zabrze in Vienna). He won another league title with Derby County in 1975 and represented England at the 1970 World Cup. Outside football, Lee was a brilliant businessman, founding a waste paper recycling firm that made him a millionaire manufacturer of toilet rolls, and served as chairman of Manchester City from 1994 to 1998. He was appointed CBE in 2016.

Key Life Milestones

May 11, 1968

First Division League Title with Manchester City

Scored the decisive goal in a 4-3 victory over Newcastle United to clinch the English First Division championship.

April 29, 1970

European Cup Winners' Cup Victory

Scored the winning penalty in Vienna against Górnik Zabrze to deliver Manchester City's first European trophy.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial
Private family burial
Wilmslow, United Kingdom
GPS: 53.3278, -2.2333
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