|
| |
Leeds United Association Football Club
|
| |
''The Whites,<br>United,<br>The Peacocks''
|
| |
Leeds
|
| |
1919
|
| |
Elland Road <br/> Beeston <br/> Leeds <br/> England
|
| |
40,242 1
|
| |
Ken Bates
|
| |
Manager
|
| |
Dennis Wise
|
| |
League One
|
| |
2006-07
|
| |
The Championship , 24th<br>(relegated)
|
| |
pattern_b1=_thinsidesonwhitepattern_ra1=leftarm1=FFFFFFbody1=0000FFrightarm1=FFFFFFshorts1=FFFFFFsocks1=FFFFFF
|
| |
pattern_b2=_thinbluesidespattern_ra2=leftarm2=FFFF00body2=FFFF00rightarm2=FFFF00shorts2=FFFF00socks2=FFFF00
|
are an
English professional
Football Club based in
Leeds ,
West Yorkshire . They currently compete in the
Football League One for the
2007-08 season. The club was founded in 1919, following the demise of
Leeds City . They play their home games at the
Elland Road stadium.
Under the management of
Don Revie during the 1960s and 1970s, Leeds won a number of domestic and European trophies. After Revie's departure to manage the
England team Leeds were relegated to the Second Division in
1982 , not returning to the top flight until
1990 , when they were managed by
Howard Wilkinson . Leeds were league champions in
1992 .
The club's nicknames are "Leeds", "United" or "The Whites". Another nickname that is rarely used is "The Peacocks". This nickname stems from the old name of the
Elland Road stadium (The Old Peacock Ground) which was named after the Old Peacock pub across the road
2.
Although the club name bears the "AFC" suffix,
3 the current badge displays "LUFC", however previous badges have included the official suffix.
4
Leeds United's predecessor team
Leeds City FC was formed in
1904 , but was forcibly disbanded by
The Football League in 1919 in response to allegations of illegal payments to players during the
First World War . A new club, Leeds United, was formed and began playing in the
Midland League , taking the place vacated by Leeds City's reserve team.
Yorkshire Amateurs , who occupied
Elland Road , offered to make way for the new team under the management of former player
Dick Ray . In
1920 Leeds were elected to the Football League and acquired by
Huddersfield Town 's chairman,
Hilton Crowther .
Over the following few years, Leeds consolidated their position in the
Second Division and in
1924 won the title and with it promotion to the
First Division . However, they failed to establish themselves and were relegated in
1926-27 . In the years up until the start of
World War II Leeds were twice relegated, both times being instantly re-promoted the following season. In the
1946-47 Season after the war, Leeds were relegated again with the worst league record in their history.
They remained in the Second Division for a further nine seasons until
1955-56 , when Leeds once again won promotion to the First Division, inspired by Welsh legend
John Charles . However, Charles was hungry for success at the highest level, and manager
Raich Carter was unable to convince him that Leeds could satisfy his ambitions. Charles was sold to
Juventus for a then world record of £65,000; the loss of such a key player led to Leeds' decline, and the team was relegated to the Second Division in
1959-60 .
In March 1961 the club appointed
Don Revie as manager. His stewardship began in adverse circumstances; the club was in financial difficulty
5 and in
1961-62 only a win in the final game of the season saved the club from relegation to
Division Three . Revie turned the team around, winning promotion to
the
First Division in
1963-64 . Between
1965 and
1974 , Revie's Leeds never finished outside of the top four, won two League Championships (
1968-69 and
1973-74 ),
the FA Cup (
1971-72 ), the League Cup (
1967-68 ) and two Inter-Cities Fairs Cups (
1967-68 and
1970-71 ). Set against the success was an unenvied record of second places; during the same period Leeds were runners up in the League five times, losing finalists
in the FA Cup three times, runners up in the Fairs Cup once, and losing finalists in the European Cup Winners Cup. Revie's last season at Elland Road was in 1974, and he left Leeds to take up the role of managing the English national team.
Brian Clough was appointed as Revie's successor. This was a surprise appointment, as Clough had been an outspoken critic of Revie and the team's tactics.
6 The team performed poorly under Clough, and after only 44 days
7 he was dismissed and replaced by former England captain
Jimmy Armfield . Armfield took Revie's ageing team to the
Final of the
1974-75 European Cup , where they were defeated by
Bayern Munich ."Welcome To Elland Road", Les Rowley & James Brown (1999), IFG Publishing, ISBN 0953633802 Assisted by coach
Don Howe , Armfield rebuilt Revie's team, and though it no longer dominated English football, it remained in the top ten for subsequent seasons. However, the board was impatient for success and dismissed Armfield, replacing him with
Jock Stein , who also lasted just 44 days before leaving to manage
Scotland . The board turned to
Jimmy Adamson but he was unable to stop the decline. In 1980 Adamson resigned and was replaced by former Leeds and England star
Allan Clarke . Despite spending freely on players, he was unable to stem the tide and the club was relegated at the end of
1981-82 . Clarke was replaced by former team-mate
Eddie Gray .
With no money to spend on team building,
8 Gray's concentrated on youth development, without winning them promotion from the Second Division. The board again became impatient and sacked him in 1985, replacing him with another former Revie star,
Billy Bremner . Bremner carried on where Gray had left off, but found it just as difficult to achieve promotion, though he did bring the club close; Leeds got to the 1987 play-off final but were defeated by
Charlton Athletic after
Extra Time .
In October
1988 , with the team 21st in the Second Division, Bremner was fired to make way for
Howard Wilkinson , who oversaw promotion back to the First Division in
1989-90 . Under Wilkinson the club finished 4th in
1990-91 and then won the title in
1991-92 . However, the
1992-93 season was a poor one, with Leeds exiting the
Champions League in the early stages, and eventually finishing 17th in the League, narrowly avoiding relegation. Wilkinson's Leeds were unable to provide any consistent challenge for honours, and his position was not helped by a poor display in the
1996 League Cup Final which Leeds lost to Aston Villa. Leeds could only finish 13th in
1995-96 , and after a heavy home defeat to Manchester United early in
1996-97 , Wilkinson had his contract terminated.
Leeds appointed
George Graham as Wilkinson's replacement. The appointment was controversial
9 as Graham had previously received a one year ban from the
The Football Association for receiving illegal payments from a Football Agent. Graham made some astute purchases, and by the end of the season Leeds had qualified for the following season's
UEFA Cup . In October
1998 Graham moved on to become manager of
Tottenham Hotspur , and Leeds opted to replace him with assistant manager
David O'Leary . O'Leary introduced promising youngsters, and under the coaching of
Eddie Gray Leeds secured 3rd place in the league, sending the club into the
UEFA Champions League . Unfortunately, Leeds' image was tarnished when players
Jonathan Woodgate and
Lee Bowyer were involved in an incident which left an Asian student in hospital with severe injuries. The resulting courtcase took nearly two years to resolve; Bowyer was cleared, and Woodgate convicted of
Affray and sentenced to community service.
In the
UEFA Cup , Leeds reached their first
European Semi-final in 25 years and were paired against Turkish champions
Galatasaray in
Istanbul . Leeds lost the game, but the result was overshadowed by the death of two Leeds fans, Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight, who were stabbed to death before the game.
1011 Leeds were only able to draw the return leg at Elland Road, thus going out of the competition. A minute's silence
12 is held every year at the match closest to the anniversary of the incident to remember Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight.
O'Leary's Leeds never finished outside of the top five, but following their appearance in the
UEFA Champions League 2001 semi-final against
Valencia their fortunes began to change. Under chairman
Peter Ridsdale , Leeds had taken out large loans against the prospect of the share of the TV rights and sponsorship revenues that come with UEFA Champions League qualification and any subsequent progress in the competition.
13 However Leeds narrowly failed to qualify for the Champions League, and as a consequence did not receive enough income to repay the loans. The first indication that the club was in financial trouble was the sale of
Rio Ferdinand to
Manchester United for approximately £30m. Ridsdale and O'Leary publicly fell out over the sale, and O'Leary was sacked and replaced by former England manager
Terry Venables . Leeds performed badly under Venables, and other players were sold to repay the loans, including
Jonathan Woodgate whom Ridsdale had promised Venables would not be sold. Tensions mounted between the pair, eventually resulting in the sacking of Venables, who was replaced by
Peter Reid . By this time Leeds were in danger of relegation, but Reid saved Leeds from the drop in the penultimate game of the season. During this time Ridsdale had resigned from the Leeds board, and was replaced by economics expert Professor
John McKenzie . An unsuccessful start to the
2003-04 Season saw
Peter Reid dismissed, and head coach
Eddie Gray took over as caretaker manager until the end of the season.
Gerald Krasner , an insolvency specialist, led a consortium of local businessmen which took over Leeds and under his chairmanship oversaw the sale of the clubs' assets, including senior and emerging youth players of any value. Caretaker manager Gray was largely blameless for the performance of the team during the
2003-04 Season as the majority of the squad was sold out from underneath him and despite his best efforts, Leeds were relegated after 14 years in the top flight. Following relegation, Gray's reign as caretaker manager was terminated, and
Kevin Blackwell was appointed manager. Most of the remaining players were sold or released on free transfers to further reduce the wage bill. Leeds were eventually forced to sell both their training ground, for £4.2m,
14 and their
Elland Road stadium
15 in the autumn of 2004.
The board finally sold the club to
Ken Bates for £10m.
16 Blackwell stabilized the team by signing players on free transfers and low wages and Leeds finished the
2004-05 season mid-table in
The Championship . In the
2005-06 Season Leeds finished in the top 6 and made the
Promotion Playoff final, which they lost to
Watford . On
10 September 2006 ,
Kevin Blackwell announced that within a year the club would be debt-free.
17 However, the
2006-07 season started badly and on
20 September 2006 Kevin Blackwell 's contract as manager of Leeds United was terminated.
Dennis Wise was eventually installed as his replacement after a month without a permanent manager, but was unable to lift the team out of the relegation zone for much of the season, despite bringing a number of experienced loan players into the squad . With relegation virtually assured, Leeds entered a Company Voluntary Arrangement (
Administration ) on
4 May 2007 , thus incurring a league imposed 10 point deduction which officially relegated the club to the third tier of English football.
1819.
| |
left
|
| |
_blue_stripes
|
| |
_whitestripes
|
| |
_blue_stripes
|
| |
FFFFFF
|
| |
0000FF
|
| |
FFFFFF
|
| |
FFFFFF
|
| |
Leeds' first home colours
|
|
|
| |
right
|
| |
|
| |
_bluehalf
|
| |
|
| |
FFFF00
|
| |
FFFF00
|
| |
0000FF
|
| |
FFFFFF
|
| |
Leeds' home kit before changing to all white 1934-1950
|
|
|
