Bates attacks Kilby

Last updated : 14 January 2010 By Tony Scholes
Bates is apparently unhappy that we might have wanted his manager Simon Grayson to come to Turf Moor as Burnley manager and this has upset him.

Bates is reported as saying: "Why would Simon want to leave Leeds for Burnley? I mean they are a small manufacturing town in Lancashire. Simon is a Yorkshireman. We have ten times their population, fifty percent bigger gates than Burnley and we beat them pre-season anyway.

"They might be in the Premier League now but I think they lost £9 million last year, and if they come down, they will go back to where they came from, whereas Leeds are on the up."

Early in 1965 the very same Bates, then claiming to be a Burnley fan, tried to buy into the club only to be rejected by Bob Lord. Bates was trying to buy shares from Jimmy McIlroy's father-in-law Luther Wilkinson but Lord blocked the share transfer.

Click HERE to read more on Bates' attempts to buy into Burnley FC.