Bates: Chelsea can 'shove it'

Ken Bates today told Chelsea's new owners to 'shove it' after his infamous programme notes were scrapped for the first time in 22 years.

Chelsea's official explanation for the binning of Bates was that space was needed for an introductory interview with incoming chief executive Peter Kenyon.

However, Standard Sport understands yesterday's column was deliberately suppressed because it contained a critical reference to a decision taken by the club's new owners.

The move came within a week of Kenyon taking charge and the replacement of Bates as chairman of the club's parent company by Bruce Buck, the American lawyer who is a close confidante of owner Roman Abramovich. But the high profile nature of the axing and Bates' reaction must cast doubt over his future at the club.

A furious Bates said: 'Bruce Buck told me Peter Kenyon would be doing a profile piece and it would be better if I didn't do my notes.

'I told him he could shove it, I won't be doing them again.'

Bates' programme notes are renowned for their hard-hitting attacks on the Football Association, journalists and other figures within the game and have made compulsive reading since he bought the club for £1 in 1982.

However, his position at Chelsea has been uncertain since he sold his 29 per cent shareholding to Abramovich last summer for £17million.

The Russian let Bates stay on as a director and chairman of the football club as part of the deal until 2005. The increasing influence of director Buck, who was unveiled last week as Chelsea Village chairman, would make him favourite to replace Bates if he is ousted.