How did Man City's Francis Lee become a toilet roll millionaire and what is Peter Kay's connection to him?

Although Francis Lee is best remembered for being a former player and chairman of Manchester City football club, he was also a racehorse trainer and made millions from toilet paper. In 1976, he retired from football and set up a company called FH Lee Ltd, which the Evening Standard described as a company that “specialised in waste paper recycling and haulage before expanding into toilet roll, kitchen roll foil and cling film.”

Francis Lee is reported to have made £6 million from the company after selling it for £8.35million in 1984. He then went on to train racehorses after buying stables and then bought Manchester City from Peter Swales in 1994. 

Although Francis Lee was initially seen as a returning hero by Manchester City fans, the club were on their way down to the third tier when he resigned in 1998. After resigning, Francis Lee still kept shares in the club and attended games before selling them to Thaksin Shinawatra in 2007. 

In 2016, Francis Lee was awarded a CBE for services to football and charity. The Times reported that “The comedian Peter Kay was to become one of his employees. Lee followed a rigorous disciplined life each day, commencing with standing under a cold shower at 7 am and ‘letting all my irritations wash out of me’ as he put it.”

Francis Lee, whose full name was Francis Henry Lee and was known as “Franny” was the son of a cotton mill manager and was born in Westhoughton, Lancashire. He went to Horwich Technical School and was known for being a keen cricketer as well as a talented footballer.