What a man. Had the pleasure to meet him briefly at The Bridge. Thank you Batesy for saving Chelsea.

Should of stayed at Chelsea instead of milking my club.

What a man! A man who loves OUR CLUB and saved it! Now we have that Muppet Boehly in charge, who doesn't give a toss about any of us!

Bates is hated at Leeds but im the only Leeds fan who says he did some decent things. Apart from arguably saving the club as nobody else wanted to take us on with all the debt we had he made a decision to spend about 5m ( a lot in those days ) converting part of our big east stand to corporate dining areas and private boxes . Everyone was complaining that the money should be spent ( probably wasted) on middling players but those areas are great money earners and have paid for themselves many times over. Every Club wants corporate sections now as they help grow revenues and stay within PSR rules. He was ahead of the times . His weakness was a total lack of or disregard of PR skills .

What's the song at the start? Would like to hear more from him if possible. Even to hear what he thinks of today's game or more stories from his stewardship. Enjoyed the video.

Fabulous podcast and totally agree that Ken Bate’s has to go down as a hero of CFC. Along with Dickie Attenborough two men who kept Chelsea alive and importantly at Stamford Bridge, ‘The Bridge’ to everyone in football. I once wrote to him out of frustration in the early 90’s bemoaning our current performances, I think we’d lost in the league and gone out of the league cup and FA cup in 7 days and was distraught at another ruined season. He sent me a response with a single sentence ‘ well how do you think I feel Malcolm !!’ Sadly a recent letter to Todd Boehly never received a reply? ( I suspect this makes me sound a bit of a weirdo but writing the letter alone releases some frustration !!!!) I absolutely love Blue Day , the 90 minutes after Wembley in 1997 with constant singing of the song must surely go down as the greatest celebration between fans and players ever. For a short time it became an anthem but has faded which is sad. Well done on uncovering some stories never told before, particularly as I suspect interviewing Ken in particular was a challenge.