Ken Bates

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Ken Bates at a press conference, 2006.
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Ken Bates at a press conference, 2006.

Ken Bates (born 4 December 1931 in Ealing, London) is a British football executive. The current chairman and chief executive of Leeds United AFC, Bates was previously chairman and major shareholder of Chelsea F.C. from 1982 until 2004. An outspoken character who relishes conflict,[1] Bates is one of the most controversial figures in British football.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Bates was born in London in 1931. His mother died shortly afterwards and his father absconded, so he was raised by his grandparents in a council flat. He grew up supporting Queens Park Rangers but was unsuccessful in pursuing a playing career in football. He made his personal fortune in the haulage industry and later moved into quarrying, ready-mix concrete and dairy farming. He was involved with various other enterprises during the 1960s and 1970s, including a project on the British Virgin Islands and setting up the Irish Trust Bank, which was completed in 1976, leaving thousands of investors out-of-pocket.[2] Twice married, he has five children. He spent five years as chairman of Oldham Athletic during the 1960's and also had a spell at Wigan Athletic

He currently resides in Monaco as a tax exile. He is however, under UK law, allowed to visit the country for a maximum of 90 days in a calendar year.[3]

[edit] Chelsea Football Club

Bates purchased Chelsea F.C. in 1982 for £1. When he purchased the club they were in serious financial trouble, and threatened with relegation to the Third Division, as well being tarnished by a notorious hooligan element among their support. He fought (and, through sheer persistence, eventually won) a long-running legal battle with property developers, Marler Estates, who had purchased a substantial portion of the freehold of Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's home ground. He re-united the freehold with the club (and thus secured its future) after Marler's bankruptcy following a market crash, which allowed him to do a deal with their banks and create the Chelsea Pitch Owners, an organisation set-up to stave off future developers. He also did much to rid the club of its hooligan problem, made a public show of support for Paul Canoville who, as Chelsea's first black player, had been targeted for racist abuse by a section of the support, and attempted to make the club more financially viable.

Bates' time at Chelsea was nothing if not controversial. Nine managers came and went, several of whom were sacked in contentious circumstances. He alienated many of the club's supporters by proposing that electric fences be used to keep them off the pitch - though in the event his planning application was rejected by the GLA on the grounds of health and safety - and then by banning several members of Chelsea's successful 1970s side, such as Ron Harris and Peter Osgood, for perceived criticism of his methods. His match-day programme notes, in which he often attacked various individuals, were also controversial. In 2002 he was sued for libel by Chelsea supporter David Johnstone after describing fans' group, the Chelsea Independent Supporters Association, as parasites; Bates eventually settled out of court.[4]

During the 1990s, he was involved in a bitter dispute with Chelsea benefactor and vice-chairman, Matthew Harding, over the club's future direction, which led to Harding being banned from the Chelsea boardroom. The dispute was ultimately only ended by Harding's death in a helicopter crash in 1996. Bates sparked further controversy by later describing Harding as an "evil man".[5] In January 2000, following a 5th Round FA Cup tie defeat by Chelsea for his Leicester City side, Martin O'Neill voiced the thoughts of many in a press room outburst. O'Neill said: 'On top of everything, you get footballing cretins like Ken Bates writing in his programme notes that we would come along and play for penalties.' Bates' response was it "takes one to know one."

By the end of his chairmanship Stamford Bridge had been substantially refurbished and modernised, while he had become (at the time) Chelsea's most successful chairman. The club had won several major trophies and were consistently finishing in the top six of the Premiership, with a top-class playing squad containing the likes of Gianfranco Zola and Marcel Desailly. However, its future was threatened by an estimated debt burden of £80 million. In 2003 he sold the club to Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich, making a £17million profit. After the takeover Bates was investigated by the FSA for allegedly owning undeclared shares in Chelsea Village plc, but the case was eventually dropped.[6] He stayed on as club chairman until March 2004, when he announced his resignation.

[edit] FA and Wembley Stadium

Bates was an active member of the Football Association Executive and was involved in the early stages of the project to rebuild Wembley Stadium and was appointed chairman of Wembley National Stadium Ltd in 1997. He resigned in 2001, citing a lack of support from the board[7]. Irked at the lack of progress, he later suggested that the best way to move the project forward was to shoot then-Minister for Sport, Kate Hoey.[8]

[edit] Leeds United

After failing in a bid to invest in Sheffield Wednesday, Bates became the principal owner and chairman of then struggling Championship team, Leeds United, saying that he wants "one last challenge". In just over a year, he achieved both decent on-pitch results, but also alienated a lot of Leeds fans with inflated ticket prices.

Bates had a dispute with former club, Chelsea, having accused them of "tapping-up" three Leeds youth players, accusations denied by Chelsea.[9] Chelsea in turn reported Bates to the FA for his comment that the current Chelsea directors are "a bunch of shysters from Siberia", an alleged anti-semitic remark about Abramovich, something denied by Bates.[10] Upon hearing that Chelsea had reported him, Bates said "I haven’t laughed so much since Ma caught her tits in the mangle."[11] The FA also agreed with Bates stating that he had no case to answer.[12] His own club Leeds have themselves come under scrutiny after non-league team Farsley Celtic accused Leeds of improperly signing youngsters from them.[13] The case brought against Chelsea was eventually dropped after the two clubs agreed to a settlement privately.[14]

Although Bates plans to eventually re-purchase Leeds' home stadium, Elland Road, and the Thorpe Arch training-ground, he has purchased the pitch at Elland Road and leased it to the fans of the club on a 999 year lease, to ensure that in whatever sense, football continues to be played at Elland Road for a long time to come.

Sporting positions
Preceded by:
Viscount Chelsea		 Chelsea chairman
1982–2004		 Succeeded by:
Bruce Buck
Preceded by:
Gerald Krasner		 Leeds United chairman
2005-		 Succeeded by:
'incumbent'

[edit] References

  1. ^ Thoughts of chairman Ken. Phil McNulty. BBC Sport (21 January 2005). Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
  2. ^ Interview with Ken Bates. Roy Collins. Guardian Unlimited (1 April 2002). Retrieved on 2006-08-25.
  3. ^ Tax exiles to be refused entry to the Lords. The Times. Times Online (7 August 2006). Retrieved on 2006-09-01.
  4. ^ Glanvill, Rick (2005). Chelsea FC: The Official Biography - The Definitive Story of the First 100 Years. Headline Book Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7553-1466-2., p. 108
  5. ^ Fans upset over Bates' comments. John Ley. The Daily Telegraph (20 October 1997). Retrieved on 2006-08-18.
  6. ^ How watchdog inquiry left Bates unruffled. David Conn. Guardian Unlimited (25 November 2005). Retrieved on 2006-08-25.
  7. ^ Bates quits Wembley project. BBC Sport. BBC (8 February 2001). Retrieved on 2006-08-18.
  8. ^ Bates blasts interfering Hoey. Richard Gibson. ESPN soccernet (3 May 2001). Retrieved on 2006-08-18.
  9. ^ Bates issues Chelsea ultimatum. Alex Dunn. Sky Sports (30 July 2006). Retrieved on 2006-08-18.
  10. ^ Blues make Bates complaint. Simon Fudge. Sky Sports (17 August 2006). Retrieved on 2006-08-18.
  11. ^ Bates laughs off anti-semitic claims. Paul Doyle. Guardian Unlimited (18 August 2006). Retrieved on 2006-08-25.
  12. ^ FA opts not to take Bates action. BBC Sport. BBC (29 September 2006). Retrieved on 2006-09-29.
  13. ^ By the way Ken.... Wendy Walker. Yorkshire Evening Post (22 August 2006). Retrieved on 2006-08-25.
  14. ^ Leeds agree to Chelsea settlement. BBC Sport. BBC (28 October 2006). Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
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