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Boundary
space nearby for facilities and parking;
a well capitalised site; and an ailing
club. So ran the ad in the mind of Ken
Bates, cruising round. the north of
England in his maroon Silver Cloud in
the summer of 1965. Ten years up
from London, with a construction
company and global interests in invest-
ment and property development, he
wanted to chance his arm at football.
He liked the game and needed another
Everest to climb. He saw Burnley,
Stockport and Oldham answering his
V, rg,n Islands
requirements. A cloven butcher and
Vic Bernard had taken two of the
places; what about the ' Latics?
I boasted David Best and George Kinnell:
men.
tal drup. Oldham Athletic had
creditors and shareholders snapping at
the window; no money from the
supporters; a secretary, named
Buckley, shortly to go to prison for
fiddling players' expenses (he had also
turned down Malcolm Allison as
manager for £30 a week); and the
police threatening to close the ground
for safety reasons. It was an Accring-
ton replay, with United, City, Leeds
and Burnley blackening the horizon.
TIle board was delighted. There
were no moguls among them, and no-
one who could raise desperate capital.
In the autumn of '65 Bates bought
19,500 shares and sank £85,000 of
loan stock into the club. Frank Large,
Ian Towers, Dennis Stevens and
Bloor were signed 'before they could
find out I was a millionaire'. He wrote
a five year master plan: it was accepted
unanimously (had they seen one
before?). In January Jimmy Mcilro
"'"
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u Corporation was born.
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o throwing out all the voluntary or,ani-
Z
92
Bates
and the
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came for a five year contract at
£4,000 a year. Bates liked his reputa-
tion in the area and in Ireland (e.g.
Allan Hunter, Ronnie Blair), and his
handling of youngsters. Tho old
bicycle and wooden bench that had
passed for physiotherapy gave way to
a lavish medical room; board room,
dressing rooms and social facilities too
were re-done. The Boundary Bulletin
flooded the town.
The club stayed up: up to 5th place
by the next December. The team
Knighton, Hunter and Blair for a half-
back line: Large, Towers and white
hope Bill Johnson from Glenavon on
the right wing. They sniffed promot-
ion. Bates called for backing from the
board, but they were too poor or un-
adventurous. The chance was gone.
The next season the players slipped:
Johnson had a tragic injury at Middles-
borough: there was no confidence in
Mcilroy. Bates began to reCQUphis
misfortune. Best., Kinnell and Knishton
On Anegada, meanwhile, in the
British Virgin Islands he landed a
plum. A 199 year lease on four-fifths
of the island-as big as Manhattan and
170 inhabitants-with tax exemptions
on profits, income, capitaJ and death
duties. The price? A £1 million in
development. And there were no
exchange controls on an Wand in the
sterling area but with dollars as
currency. The Anegada Development
Back out of the sun, the marriage
turned sour. His worst mistake, he
declared in December '67, was 'not
sahons and quite a bitOflhe stiff'
when he joined. But he was loyal to
Mcilroy: and he kept the board when
he could have gone for richer men (he
was respectful of local interests, real
or imagined?). He started to pull out.
81 acres of Great Budworth, Cheshire,
was swapped for a villa in Tortola (the
island next to Anegada). And he sold
his 10 shilling shares in the club for
6d each to an associate.
In August '68 McIlroy resigned: 'All
I can say is that it has been an exper-
ience. I have nothing else to say.' Bates
followed him in September: 'I feel it
impossible to run the club as cltairman
while living out in the Caribbean'.
Harry Massey, a local builder, returned
to power. Jack Rowley came back also,
to the ~nager's seat. Together they
toolcOldham to Division Four.
Bates maintains it was Anegada that
forced him to move. I would have
carried on, he argues: you need
patience, as I always said. He left the
club with permanent improvements
and himself about £25,000 poorer. He
was unlucky or foolish in his choice of
manager and the caution of his board.
For, fifteen months after, the recipe
worked. John Jowe, a textile man
from Bury, bought his shares: sacked
Rowley and the directors that appoint-
ed him: and plucked Oldham from the
bottom of Division Four to the Second
last year (with five of Bates' team).
But he probably didn't mind. On
Christmas Eve 1970 the Virgin Islands
offered £4.8 million for the Anegada
Develol?ment Corporation.
John Willie Lees
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