{"id":38996,"date":"2026-07-11T16:55:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T16:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/11\/former-chelsea-and-leeds-owner-ken-bates-dies-at-94\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T16:55:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T16:55:26","slug":"former-chelsea-and-leeds-owner-ken-bates-dies-at-94","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/11\/former-chelsea-and-leeds-owner-ken-bates-dies-at-94\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Chelsea and Leeds owner Ken Bates dies at 94"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>LONDON (AP) &#8211; Former Chelsea owner and chairman Ken Bates, who bought Chelsea for just \u00a31 in 1982, has died. He is 94 years old.<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea confirmed Bates&#8217; death in a statement on Saturday, saying: &#8220;He passed away peacefully this morning in Monaco surrounded by his wife and family.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The club sends its deepest sympathies to Ken&#8217;s wife Susannah, the rest of his family and friends. Ken&#8217;s determination to fight for Chelsea through difficult times and drive the team to trophies will never be forgotten.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Bates bought Chelsea at a time when they were in debt and struggling in England&#8217;s second tier (for just \u00a31), but he injected cash into the club and oversaw their return to the top flight in 1984. <\/p>\n<p>He was the club&#8217;s third-longest serving president, holding the position for 22 years. He also became one of the most recognizable characters in the English game, with a personality that Chelsea described as &#8220;colorful, outspoken and controversial&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>He sold Chelsea to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in 2003 for 140 million pounds ($233 million at the time). He took over Leeds as owner and chairman in 2005 and sold the club in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP Soccer: <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/ken-bates-chelsea-death-9cb574a02263327feac925551ffed88b\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LONDON (AP) &#8211; Former Chelsea owner and chairman Ken Bates, who bought Chelsea for just \u00a31 in 1982, has died. He is 94 years old. Chelsea confirmed Bates&#8217; death in a statement on Saturday, saying: &#8220;He passed away peacefully this morning in Monaco surrounded by his wife and family.&#8221; &#8220;The club sends its deepest sympathies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38997,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-38996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Former Chelsea and Leeds owner Ken Bates dies at 94 - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/11\/former-chelsea-and-leeds-owner-ken-bates-dies-at-94\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Chelsea and Leeds owner Ken Bates dies at 94 - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LONDON (AP) &#8211; Former Chelsea owner and chairman Ken Bates, who bought Chelsea for just \u00a31 in 1982, has died. 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