Mr Bates and two other directors made an application to be allowed to continue to remain directors of the club after their involvement in a previous Leeds United-related liquidiation left them in breach of insolvency rules.

Judge Langan QC accepted the application but then revealed the court had received a request ahead of the hearing that the names of Mr Bates, his legal advisor Mark Taylor, and club director Shaun Harvey - none of whom were in court yesterday - remain anonymous.

He said: "I want to raise one point as a matter of concern. There was a telephone call to court yesterday taken by a fairly junior member of staff with reference that this case be listed without reference to the names of the parties.

"There are some names for which anonymising on the list is essential, the obvious example being family cases. But I don't know what prompted the request to be made in this case.

"Put bluntly, if it was done in this case, it should have to be done in every case. The public is entitled to know what cases are being heard."

Louis Doyle, the barrister representing the three directors, told the court that he wasn't aware of the approach being made and Mr Bates last night said he "knew nothing about it" and that he would be "very happy to be named".

The legal firm which made the application said it was thought it would be in the "best interests of the hearing".

Mr Bates tonight described the successful application as "another little win", adding "which isn't good news for the people who tried to cause trouble."