By the end of his reign, Chelsea were regularly finishing in the top six of the Premier League and had won their first major trophies since the 1970s, although they had a debt burden of around £80 million.
The Leeds United fanzine Square Ball has published a photograph of Bates with Rhodesian PM Ian Smith during a 1967 tour by Oldham Athletic, when Rhodesia was subject to UN sanctions.
He provided significant finance by way of bank guarantees that enabled the then manager, Larry Lloyd, to sign a number of players, not the least of which was Eamonn O'Keefe from Everton for £65,000.
After narrowly escaping relegation to the Third Division in the 1982–83 season, Bates made the funds available to manager John Neal to sign players including Kerry Dixon, David Speedie, Pat Nevin, Mickey Thomas, Eddie Niedzwiecki and Nigel Spackman, who helped the club win promotion and re-establish themselves in the top-flight with consecutive top six finishes.
Chelsea have spent all but one season in the top flight of English football since 1984, and by the time Bates stepped down as chairman in 2003 they were firmly re-established as one of English football's leading sides, having achieved seven successive top six finishes in the Premier League and won several major trophies as well as signing a succession of high-profile players, including many foreign international stars.
In the early years, he fought a successful and 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.
The club had won several major trophies and were consistently finishing in the top six of the Premier League, even finishing third and just four points behind champions Manchester United in 1999, as well as qualifying for the UEFA Champions League with a top-class playing squad containing Gianfranco Zola, Roberto Di Matteo, Graeme Le Saux, Marcel Desailly and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
After the takeover, Bates was investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for allegedly owning undeclared shares in Chelsea Village plc, but the case was eventually dropped.
[13] 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, when their visitors were Chelsea.
[14] In June 1986, Bates purchased a controlling interest in Scottish club Partick Thistle for around £100,000 via a share issue after being made aware of their financial problems by their chairman Miller Reid, who was an acquaintance.
[21] 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.
[28] Bates planned to eventually re-purchase Leeds' home stadium, Elland Road, and the Thorp Arch training ground.
In May 2011, in anticipation of promotion to the English Premier League (not subsequently realised) Bates confirmed, according to the BBC, that he had become the sole owner of Leeds United.
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.
[34] In the 2008–09 season, Leeds were one of the pre-season favourites to promotion and after a good start their form faltered dramatically, and after a run of five-straight defeats (including a 1–0 loss to Histon in the FA Cup), Bates decided to sack McAllister.
[39] On 21 November 2012, Bates finalised a deal to sell Leeds to Middle East-based private equity group GFH Capital, with them gaining 100% shareholding in the club.