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"Ken Bates - Opinions?"

Im not sure how many of you know of my beloved club, Sheffield Wednesdays, current situation. In excess of £25 million in debt, a poor team which has struggled in Division 2, a poor management team, that being Ex-owl keeper Chris Turner, and Ex-Striker Colin West, and Dave Allen whom is the chairmen of the club, who currently runs it as a dictatorship.

I think im right in say the majority of the supporters want all three of these men out, along with the rest of the board.

Since the start of the year, one Ken Bates has announced his interest in taking over the club, stating he will put £10 million into it, to help with the playing squad, as well as making other improvements. It’s all very complicated, and up here in Sheffield in the press there has been a war of words between Bates and Allen, and it continues to go on daily. Something is supposed to be happening in the very near future.

My question is, what are your opinions of Ken Bates. Im interested to know what any of the Chelsea fans think of him especially.

I personally am not too sure about him as a person, and not too sure if he is to be trusted completely. What I do know is, he has a pot of money, many people behind him able to put more money into my club, as well as his endless list of contacts in football, and his experience. He has the ability to take us back to where I feel we belong, in top-flight football.

And who knows...if Bates is here by the summer...So might be Mr Ranieri. (Or maybe not)

Anyway, Ken Bates? Opinions?

:)

thats all right. we know you're just trying to avoid the swear filter.

Clazon wrote:
> EDIT= **** replaces the most insulting words you can think of.

Well it's got to be a toss up between 'Arsenal' and 'Arsene Whinger' ;-)

personally i think he's one of the most **** people that there ever could be. he ignores that other players can be better than his (based on comments about henry). he's horrible to everyone, except those he needs. my friend's dad was a chief exec at chelsea until very recently and said that his dad and bates were good friends.

in summary i think he's the scum of the earth, but if he's got dosh then you may as well get him in. lets just hope he dooesn't do a ridsdale.

good luck PE



EDIT= **** replaces the most insulting words you can think of.

He might even find another billionaire to take over at Sheffield Wednesday someday. It would be nice to see Sheffield Wednesday get back to the premiership because its a shame to see such a big club freefall down the leagues (unless its a club nobody likes) and at least Bates will provide some finances for it.

Colourless wrote:

> To sum up:
> Nice person? No
> Good Chairman? Amazing
> Good move? Most Definitely.

This is the same as my thinking, but there seems to be some parts of our supporters that are against the whole idea of Bates coming in, though they want the current board out.

There are other people looking to invest in us, but none of them seem to be putting many of there ideas forward.

In the end though, beggers cant be choosers, so i would welcome him coming to Hillsborough.

Colourless wrote:
> To sum up:
> Nice person? No
> Good Chairman? Amazing
> Good move? Most Definitely.

Exaclty - nasty buisness men make the best. I mean what about Roman Abrahmovich - evil Russian tycoon oil company owner - yet he's a billionaire. Muhammed Al Fayed also is a nasty person - yet look what he did for Fulham.

Lil Bro wrote:
> I'm guessing and he is a truely great guy. I remember an
> interview with him on MoTD, he was almost like an old Claudio...

Ken Bates is not a great guy. He's a horrible person, but he's one of the best in the business. My dad went to an end of season dinner thing of his, and after the meal, he brought out the kitchen staff and asked everyone to give them a quick clap. He then said, "right you've had your clap, now p*ss off and do the washing up."

He's not a great guy, his programme notes were often amusing though.

However, he made the club what it is today. He bought the club for £1, bought us our own stadium and put so much into the club, that we are now a stable, top flight, quality side. He even sold the club to a billionaire, so yeah he was amazing for us.

To sum up:
Nice person? No
Good Chairman? Amazing
Good move? Most Definitely.

Being £25 million in debt I don't think it really matters who is going to inject the money into the club because they need saving, going into administration is the last thing they need so the management need to think carefully about the situation.

The club is bigger than any individual and I think the current Sheff Wed management are worried that if Mr Bates were to come in, they will in effect, be out of a job. Therefore they are trying their hardest to stop him coming in, but let's face it they aren't up to scratch and changes need to be made at the club.

Ken Bates isn't the most trustworthy of people and I personally don't like him but he does have a bit of money now as Mr Roman gave him a nice fat cheque on his way out :) and if he is willing to save Sheff Wed, who in their right mind would say no?

I think this would be a great move forward for your club. I must admit I know very little of the situation you are in, but from what you've said it sounds quite poor. £10 mil for a club like you is a lot of money I'm guessing and he is a truely great guy. I remember an interview with him on MoTD, he was almost like an old Claudio...

So yeh, can't be a bad thing can it?

Pro Evo wrote:
> Anyway, Ken Bates? Opinions?

Evil, more so than Mohammed Al Fayed.