 He made 101 appearances and scored seven goals before retiring at the end of the 2000–01 season.The most memorable moment of Bates' Wycombe career came in April 2001, when he played in the Chairboys' FA Cup semi-final versus Liverpool at Villa Park, though he gave away a free kick which led to Liverpool's second goal in the 2–1 defeat.After retiring from professional football, Bates became a postman.