The £100,000 fee Chelsea manager Tommy Docherty paid for Hateley was a club record and he arrived as a replacement for recent broken leg victim Peter Osgood.

[5] However, Chelsea's game had previously been based around quick passing and movement, while Hateley had thrived on crosses and long balls, meaning the team's style had to be adapted to accommodate him.

[1] He scored 27 goals for Liverpool in the 1967–68 season,[1] including hat-tricks against Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest, but once again Hateley's style did not suit his team's and he moved on after a year, this time to Coventry City.

After a season at Coventry he was sold to Birmingham City and then returned to his first club, Notts County, where he rediscovered his scoring touch and led them to the Fourth Division title in 1970–71.

After a brief stint at Oldham Athletic and 3 matches for the Boston Minutemen in the North American Soccer League he retired from the game in 1974, having scored almost 250 career goals.