Bates In Charge

Mr Bates works in the pottery industry and became a qualified referee in 1983. Ten years later, he was appointed to become a National List assistant referee and then FIFA assistant referee 1996 where he was appointed for matches during Euro 96.

Mr Bates joined the National List of Referees in July 1996 and is one of the longest serving referees on that list. His other career highes have been an Assistant Referee at the 1995 Charity Shield 1995 and an assistant at the 1996 FA Cup Final.

This will be his 12th game of the season so far and and his fifth Championship match. Mr Bates has shown 30 yellow cards and three reds.

His last Coventry City match was the 1-0 victory at Birmingham City on November 3rd 2008 and previous matches include the 3-2 home League Cup defeat to Newcastle in August 2008, the 2-0 defeat at Burnley where he failed to spot a deliberate handball by Kyle Lafferty which lead to the opening goal in February 2008, the 2-1 win at QPR in November 2007, the 2-0 defeat at Reading in January 2006, the 5-2 win at Gillingham on May 1st 2004 and the 2-1 defeat at Ipswich in November 2002,

His assistants are Marvyn Amplett from Worcestershire and Steve Bratt from Birmingham, The Fourth Official is Sasa Ihringova from Shropshire.