However, a dip in form in January was followed by Wise's exit to Newcastle and then the arrival of Gary McAllister.
Leeds failed to click into gear straight away under McAllister, although Bates has nothing put praise for everyone at the club after seeing them battle their way back into the play-off places.
"I think they've been absolutely fantastic. If we hadn't had the blip at the changeover of manager we'd have been looking at automatic promotion," he told Yorkshire Radio.
"We had a good result on Saturday (at Millwall) in front of what was a hostile crowd from what I gather. It's in our hands now. Hopefully we will get three points against Yeovil and if not, against Gillingham in our last game."