Football: Showdown at the Bridge

The boardroom showdown between Chelsea rivals Ken Bates and Matthew Harding is unlikely to resolve their bitter power struggle this morning.

Harding, the Stamford Bridge landlord, is determined to force chairman Bates to climb down over his enforced exile from the directors' box.

The multi-millionaire will also seek to block plans for the new South Stand - centred around a hotel development - and Harding looks set to gain the backing of the managing director, Colin Hutchinson.

But such is the boardroom set-up, with long-term Bates' appointee Yvonne Todd the only other director, that the pair could find themselves in a classic stand-off. And, as Bates points out: "If the directors split 50- 50, our rules say the chairman gets the casting vote."

Still, it should be a lively confrontation between the fan with a fortune, and the old football politician who has kept the club alive through 13 difficult years.

The pair have avoided each other since Bates accepted Harding's resignation from Chelsea Village, the football club's parent company, as a declaration of his takeover intent.

But that has not prevented a virulent media battle, with Bates accusing Harding of embarrassing Chelsea, drinking too much and lacking the business acumen to run the club. His 42-year-old opponent, the 89th richest man in the country and with pounds 26.5m already tied up in the club, has not risen to the taunts, merely observing that Bates "is the wrong chairman" and challenging him to match his financial commitment.

Waged against a background of "mystery" shareholders, appeals to the fans and even tales of bugging, the dispute has hit the dressing-room, with the Chelsea manager, Glenn Hoddle, reportedly recruited to the Harding camp and Bates allegedly lining up the disgraced and exiled former Arsenal manager, George Graham, as his eventual successor.