Ken Bates
Ken Bates | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kenneth William Bates 4 December 1931 |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | chairman of Leeds United A.F.C. former owner and chairman of Chelsea F.C. |
Kenneth William "Ken" Bates (born 4 December 1931) is a British businessman and football executive. The current chairman of Leeds United Football Club Limited and Leeds United A.F.C., Bates was previously chairman and major shareholder of Chelsea F.C. from 1982 until 2003. An outspoken character who relishes conflict,[1] he is one of the most controversial figures in English football.
Biography
Bates was born in Ealing 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 1970s 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]
Chelsea F.C.
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 spent 21 years at Chelsea, during which time he attracted the headlines on many occasions (many times with the controversial headlines that the club could have done without) and employed no fewer than nine managers.[4][5] 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 GLC on the grounds of health and safety, even though Bates himself even tried to demonstrate that the electric fence was not a life-threatening device and that the worst injury anyone climbing it could expect to receive was a "burn-mark on their finger". He also condemned the media for their opposition to the electric fence, pointing out that "they were the ones spilling for their (the hooligans) blood a month ago". Bates had come up with the idea of an electric fence after the success it had when controlling cattle on his dairy farm. [1]
Further controversy came when he banned 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.[6]
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 October 1996. Bates sparked further controversy by later describing Harding as an "evil man" the following year.[7] In January 2000, following a fifth 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." In the same year, he also became involved in a dispute with Aston Villa when they got to the FA Cup final when he branded them a "two bob side." Midfielder Ian Taylor (footballer), who is a big Villa fan as well as their player, responded by telling Ken Bates that no one "gives a damn what he says."
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.[8] He stayed on as club chairman until March 2004, when he announced his resignation. Within a couple of weeks of his departure he was back in the limelight as he wrote a one off column in the Bolton Wanderers matchday programme, ironically and somewhat incidentally against Chelsea.
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[9]. 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.[10]
Leeds United A.F.C.
In January 2005, after failing in a bid to invest in Sheffield Wednesday, Bates became the principal owner and chairman of then struggling Championship team, Leeds United purchasing 50% of the club. He was quoted as saying that he wanted "one last challenge".
Bates had a dispute with former club, Chelsea, having accused them of "tapping-up" three Leeds youth players, accusations denied by Chelsea.[11] 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.[12] Upon hearing that Chelsea had reported him, Bates said "I haven’t laughed so much since Ma caught her tits in the mangle."[13] The FA also agreed with Bates stating that he had no case to answer.[14] His own club Leeds have themselves come under scrutiny after non-league team Farsley Celtic accused Leeds of improperly signing youngsters from them.[15] The case brought against Chelsea was eventually dropped after the two clubs agreed to a settlement privately.[16]
Bates plans to eventually re-purchase Leeds' home stadium, Elland Road, and the Thorpe Arch training-ground.[17]
In May 2007, with Leeds United entering administration, it was announced that KPMG acting as the administrator had agreed to sell the club to a newly-formed company called Leeds United Football Club Limited of which Bates is one of three directors. During the summer he became unpopular with groups of fans. Protests were held at games ordering the Chairman to resign.
Since Bates' time as chairman at Leeds United he has worked with 4 managers (not including numerous caretaker managers in between managers leaving). Kevin Blackwell was the manager when Bates joined Leeds and was sacked after playoff final failure and a disappointing league position during the following season. Dennis Wise was then hired to replace Kevin Blackwell, but after being the man in charge of Leeds being relegated to League 1 (for the first time in their entire history), Wise decided to join Newcastle United in a non managerial role despite Leeds' good start to the season (despite a fifteen point deduction).
Gary McAllister was the man appointed to replace Wise, McAllister was able to guide Leeds to the League 1 playoff final (despite the 15 point deduction) but a 1-0 loss to Doncaster saw Leeds banished to League 1 for yet another year. in the 2008-09 season Leeds were one of the pre season favourites to promotion and after a good start their form faultered dramatically, and after a run of five straight defeats (including a one nil loss to Histon in the Fa Cup), Bates decided to sack McAllister. On the 23rd December Leeds United hired Simon Grayson as their new manager. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/football_league/article5389016.ece
References
- ^ "Thoughts of chairman Ken". Phil McNulty. BBC Sport. 21 January 2005. Retrieved 2006-10-31.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Interview with Ken Bates". Roy Collins. Guardian Unlimited. 1 April 2002. Retrieved 2006-08-25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "HM Revenue & Customs: Non-Residents: Frequently Asked Questions". HMRC. Retrieved 2007-07-05.
- ^ "Gullit consigned to history". The Telegraph. 1998-02-13. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
- ^ "Vialli sacked as Chelsea boss". BBC. 2000-09-12. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
- ^ Glanvill, Rick (2006). Chelsea FC: The Official Biography - The Definitive Story of the First 100 Years. Headline Book Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7553-1466-2., p. 108
- ^ "Fans upset over Bates' comments". John Ley. The Daily Telegraph. 20 October 1997. Retrieved 2006-08-18.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "How watchdog inquiry left Bates unruffled". David Conn. Guardian Unlimited. 25 November 2005. Retrieved 2006-08-25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Bates quits Wembley project". BBC Sport. BBC. 8 February 2001. Retrieved 2006-08-18.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Bates blasts interfering Hoey". Richard Gibson. ESPN soccernet. 3 May 2001. Retrieved 2006-08-18.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Bates issues Chelsea ultimatum". Alex Dunn. Sky Sports. 30 July 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-18.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Blues make Bates complaint". Simon Fudge. Sky Sports. 17 August 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-18.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Bates laughs off anti-semitic claims". Paul Doyle. Guardian Unlimited. 18 August 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "FA opts not to take Bates action". BBC Sport. BBC. 29 September 2006. Retrieved 2006-09-29.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "By the way Ken..." Wendy Walker. Yorkshire Evening Post. 22 August 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Leeds agree to Chelsea settlement". BBC Sport. BBC. 28 October 2006. Retrieved 2006-10-31.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Leeds deny ground bid". Yorkshire Post. 06 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
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