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Bates may find little room for two 'daddies'

Jason Burt
Thursday 03 July 2003 00:00 BST
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The verdict from the City financiers was pretty colourful. "The simple fact is you can't have two big daddies," one said. And so Ken Bates, one of the biggest "daddies" of them all - at 71 make that "granddaddies" - is likely to leave Chelsea sooner rather than later now that his saviour has arrived, even though Roman Abramovich will not take one of the three places he is creating on the board.

"It is like the Alex Ferguson saga," one source said. "Any talk of him being kicked upstairs was nonsense and he realised that. These guys have to be in control or nothing." Consequently it is acknowledged that Bates' tenure as chairman will last months rather than the two years which has been publicly stated. After a 'handover' period he will relinquish control and slip into the role of life president, £17.5m richer.

The City was having trouble digesting the deal yesterday. Indeed it took some swallowing. "This is a real blockbuster for Ken Bates," said John Moore, a director of stockbrokers Bell Laurie Wright. "I was flabbergasted when I heard about it. If he touched you at the moment you would probably turn to gold."

The audacity of the sale, its swiftness and scale are astonishing. "People simply forget sometimes that Bates is a property developer," said Moore. "And he has shown that he is someone with a lot of talent at it."

And a lot of nerve. The signs for Chelsea have been grim for some time. Bates' dream of creating the Chelsea Village complex, with hotels, restaurants, a museum and fitness centre, may have become a reality but it has also, at times, been the stuff of nightmares as the debts mounted and the bottom fell out of the football business. Like other clubs, Chelsea was brought to the stock market in the 1990s on a wave of optimism. But, again like others, they failed to keep a tight grip on spending and although Bates blamed a succession of managers he was also culpable.

Before Bates was a football chairman, he was a property developer. Then, in 1982, he bought Chelsea FC for £1, and took on their debts of more than £2m. He turned things around, securing control and the freehold and building a hugely impressive stadium. But those debts spiralled. That was until yesterday. He took his gamble and it worked even if he was into extra-time. A golden goal indeed.

Bates has never been far from controversy of course - whether it has been his well-chronicled dealings at Chelsea (both on and off the pitch) or his extraordinary capacity to involve himself in long-running feuds such as his disagreement with David Dein, the Arsenal vice-chairman which has stretched back two decades. Then there was his involvement in the Wembley fiasco and his combustible relationship with the Football Association.

Twice divorced and with three daughters and two sons, Bates is now likely to simply enjoy his retirement with his long-time partner, the writer Suzannah Dwyer. His interests are simply listed as "eating, drinking, cruising and Suzannah" - he will now have the time and the millions to enjoy all four.

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