Ted Bates

Playing career

Bates was born in Thetford and joined Saints on his 19th birthday in 1937, transferring from Norwich City. He soon forced his way into the first team as a centre-forward. His career was interrupted by the Second World War, during which league football was suspended in England. He initially joined the War Reserve police force, spending his time on guard duty at the Shell-Mex oil depot at Hamble or the Pirelli-General cable works at Woolston. In the early part of the war, Bates still managed regular appearances for Saints in the wartime cups and leagues. Shortly afterwards the Bates' home was bombed and they moved to West Wellow, where Mary found work with the NAAFI. Bates resigned from the War Reserve and went to work at the Folland Aircraft factory at Hamble, who also had a very good works football team, Folland Aircraft, which, as well as Bates, included other professional players such as Bill Dodgin (Southampton), Harold Pond (Carlisle United), Bert Tann (Charlton), Dick Foss (Chelsea), Bill Bushby, Cliff Parker and Bill Rochford (all Portsmouth). Most of these players also guested for Saints in the War leagues.

Bates' finest playing days came between 1947 and 1951 when he formed a great partnership with Charlie Wayman.

After some declining performances on the pitch, Bates made his last first-team appearance on 20 December 1952 at home to West Ham United. During his career he made 216 appearances, scoring 64 times.

Management

After retiring from playing, he became a coach at Southampton in May 1953; advancing to manager in September 1955, taking over from George Roughton. Southampton were in the regional Third Division South when he took over as manager. They were promoted to the national Second Division in 1959 when they finished as champions of the Third Division with Derek Reeves scoring 39 league goals, a club record.

Southampton were promoted to the First Division in 1966. Bates acted as McMenemy's assistant for the next few years, which included Southampton's historic FA Cup victory in 1976.

Death Bates was widely regarded as a local hero for his dedication to the club over a period of 66 years, and his death in November 2003 was widely commemorated by the club and supporters' community.

Ted Bates Trophy In 2004, the Ted Bates Trophy was inaugurated with a match against Bayern Munich. It was an annual friendly match held in Bates' honour by Southampton.

Statue controversy A statue of Bates was unveiled outside the main entrance to St Mary's Stadium on 17 March 2007. The statue cost approximately £112,000, half of which was raised by fans via the Ted Bates Trust, and the other half met by Southampton Football Club.

The statue was widely criticised by supporters just hours after its uncovering, for having "tiny" arms and bearing a closer likeness to former Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandarić than Bates, so the club pledged to organise a replacement. The replacement statue, by sculptor Sean Hedges-Quinn, was unveiled on Saturday 22 March 2008.

In January 2022, Southampton told victims of historical sexual abuse that took place at the club that they were considering taking down the statue after accusations Bates ignored complaints about former youth coach Bob Higgins. In May 2022, Southampton confirmed they would not remove the statue of Bates.