Ken Bates: Former Chelsea owner who bought club for £1 before taking over Leeds has died

Former Chelsea owner Ken Bates has died aged 94, it has been announced.

Chelsea said Bates died peacefully on Saturday morning surrounded by his wife and family in Monaco.

The west London-born businessman was the third-longest serving chairman at the club, holding the position for over 20 years.

After selling the club to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich for £140m, he went on to buy a 50% stake in Leeds United.

He had also been chairman of Oldham for five years in the 1960s and then co-owned Wigan before famously buying Chelsea for £1 in 1982.

A statement from the Premier League club read: "Chelsea Football Club is today mourning the passing of former chairman Ken Bates.

"The club sends our heartfelt condolences to Ken's wife Suzannah, the rest of his family and his friends.

"Ken's determination to fight for Chelsea when times were tough, and drive the team on to winning trophies, will never be forgotten. Rest in peace, Ken."

Under his stewardship, the club won two FA Cups, a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, the League Cup, the UEFA Super Cup and the Community Shield.

During 21 years as Chelsea chairman, Ken Bates transformed them from second-tier also-rans in a ramshackle stadium into a top-flight force, rebuilt Stamford Bridge and established the Chelsea Village complex before selling to Roman Abramovich in 2003.

Less than 9,000 turned up for his first game as chairman at Stamford Bridge, but in his last, in 2003, a full house saw Chelsea secure a place in the Champions League.

While Bates was in charge, Chelsea were promoted into the top flight before going on to end a 26-year wait for major silverware in 1997.

Chelsea Supporters' Trust said in a statement it was "deeply saddened" to learn of Bates' passing.

Bates had a less successful eight-year reign as owner of Leeds, where he failed to replicate the success he had enjoyed at Chelsea.

After the club was put into administration, then bought back by Mr Bates and relegated to the third tier, he finally sold Leeds to Middle East-based investment bank Gulf Finance House in 2013 for £22m and retired to his tax-haven home in Monaco.

He spent five years on the Football League management committee from 1986 and was an active member of the Football Association executive in the 1990s.

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Lower league clubs receive a greater share of the Premier League's television revenue thanks to Bates' campaigning, while he actively opposed racism and did much to help eradicate Chelsea's thriving hooligan element in the 1980s.

He built an electric perimeter fence around the Stamford Bridge pitch, but was refused permission to turn on the electricity by the local council.

Born in London on December 4, 1931, Mr Bates was brought up by his grandparents on a council estate in Ealing. His mother died when he was still a baby and his father absconded.

He was born with a club foot, which needed numerous operations, grew up as a QPR fan and, after heading north, had initial success helping to run a quarry business in Manchester.

He invested in Australia's sugar cane industry and in property development in South Africa and, it was reported, bought his first Bentley aged 23.

Bates made millions from a failed building project in the British Virgin Islands in the early 1970s and also founded a bank, the Irish Trust Bank, which later had its licence revoked after lengthy investigations by Ireland's financial authorities.

(c) Sky News 2026: Ken Bates: Former Chelsea owner who bought club for £1 before taking over Leeds has died