But though Bates has hinted that Harding is chairman- in-waiting he has given no intimation of wishing to step down just yet

But, though Bates has hinted that Harding is chairman- in-waiting, he has given no intimation of wishing to step down just yet. Harding will not be drawn on his relationship with the chairman, but pays tribute to Bates's role in reviving a club which, when he took over, was almost bankrupt off the pitch and mediocre on it.Of his chairman's contribution he said: "You have only got to look at the plight the club was in in the early Eighties when Ken took it upon himself to come in and have a crack at restoring their fortunes."The question now is how Chelsea are going to make the next step They presently have half a ground and half a team. They are going to expect capital growth in the share price and a dividend. I am all for running a club at a profit, but that profit should be reinvested in the club rather than paid out to shareholders."There are several areas where Harding's views appear different to those of the chairman, Bates, who was previously involved with Oldham and Wigan. "Once a football club becomes a plc two things happen which are potentially worrying," Harding said."People can buy into the club without demonstrating they are wedded to it - which goes right against my beliefs.

And you have to serve the interests of the shareholders who are not going to have the emotional attachment to the football club. I think you have to drag football from being run along Victorian lines to something more contemporary."Despite Tottenham's good financial results this week, Chelsea will not, as Harding sees it, be following their London rivals by floating on the stock market. People think that it is akin to running a business but that is missing the point Football club directors should not even be paid Football clubs, as often as not, have been run as fiefdoms. A committed football fan cannot understand that."I also think you have to be able to afford to do what you have to do. The idea that you have a token supporter on the board says a lot about what is wrong with football clubs."I think there are two criteria to being on the board of a football club.

I think you have to be unequivocally wedded to that particular club, which is not always the case. There are a number of directors and chairmen who have been involved in more than one club. "But you cannot just sit there."This thing about me being a fan on the board - what are people doing on boards who are not fans? There is this amazing surprise that I get out of my seat when we score and wave my arms about - if that is a crime football has gone mad."It is a crying indictment of the system that supporters feel disenfranchised from the body politic. He just about manages to avoid taunting rival chairmen when Chelsea score, but he cannot sit on his hands and watch impassively. "I do behave considerably better than the way I used to," he said with a chuckle. However, after three decades of abusing referees and opponents he has had to master the self-control required in the directors' box. The cans, it transpired, had been placed there by supporters he had been drinking with on the way.This affinity with fans is not pretence.