Leeds

Pre-Leeds United

Leeds United's predecessor, Leeds City, was formed in 1904, and elected to League membership in 1905. Herbert Chapman arrived in 1912. In 1919, Leeds City were forcibly disbanded by The Football League, in response to allegations of illegal payments to players during the First World War. At Salem Chapel in 1919, Leeds United was formed, and they received an invitation to enter the Midland League, being voted into it on 31 October 1919, taking the place vacated by Leeds City Reserves. Following Leeds City's disbanding, Yorkshire Amateurs bought Elland Road stadium, and then sold it to Leeds United for £250.

The chairman of Huddersfield Town, Hilton Crowther loaned Leeds United £35,000, to be repaid when Leeds United won promotion to the First Division. He brought in former Barnsley manager Arthur Fairclough taking charge on 26 February 1920, replacing Dick Ray.

1920–1960

On 31 May 1920, Leeds United were elected to the Football League. Over the following years, they consolidated their position in the Second Division and in the 1923–24 season won the title and with it promotion to the First Division. however, they failed to establish themselves and were relegated in 1926–27. After their relegation, Fairclough resigned, which paved the way for Dick Ray to return as manager. In the years up until the start of World War II Leeds were twice relegated; on both occasions they were re-promoted the following season.^[]

On 5 March 1935, Dick Ray resigned after 8 years being manager, and was replaced by Billy Hampson, who remained in charge for 12 years. In the 1946–47 season after the war, Leeds were relegated again, with the worst league record in their history. After this season, Hampson resigned (he stayed with Leeds as their chief scout for eight months) and was replaced in April 1947 by Willis Edwards. In 1948, Sam Bolton replaced Ernest Pullan as the chairman of Leeds United. Edwards was moved to assistant manager in April 1948 after just one year as manager. He was replaced by Frank Buckley.

Leeds remained in the Second Division until 1955–56, when they once again won promotion to the First Division, inspired by John Charles. 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 Charles resulted in Leeds being relegated to the Second Division in the 1959–60 season.^[]

1961–1974: Don Revie era

In March 1961, the club appointed former player Don Revie as manager, following the resignation of Jack Taylor. His stewardship began in adverse circumstances; the club was "in financial difficulty" and in 1961–62 only a win in the final game of the season saved the club from relegation to the Third Division. Revie implemented a youth policy and a change of kit colour to an all-white strip in the style of Real Madrid, and Leeds won promotion to the First Division in 1963–64.^[]

In the 1964–65 season, Leeds finished second to rivals Manchester United on goal average. They also reached the final of the FA Cup, losing 2–1 to Liverpool at Wembley after extra-time. In the 1965–66 season, Leeds again finished second in the league, whilst also reaching the semi-finals of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, losing on aggregate to Spanish side Real Zaragoza despite manager Revie ordering the fire brigade to flood the pitch before the replay at Elland Road.

The 1966–67 season saw Leeds finish fourth in the league, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the FA Cup, losing 1–0 to Chelsea and the final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, losing 2–0 to GNK Dinamo Zagreb.

With Leeds failing to land a trophy, they nearly doubled their record transfer in 1967–68, buying Sheffield United centre-forward Mick Jones for £100,000. The season saw Leeds win their first major trophy, the League Cup, with Terry Cooper scoring the only goal of a 1–0 victory against Arsenal in the final. Leeds finished fourth in the First Division and were beaten in the FA Cup semi-finals by Everton. They also reached a second successive Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final and this time won the trophy, beating Hungarian club Ferencváros over two legs; Leeds won the first leg 1–0, and a month later defended their lead with a 0–0 draw in Budapest.

Having found success in both domestic and European cup competitions, manager Revie chose to focus on the league for the 1968–69 season. Leeds secured the title in April 1969 with a 0–0 draw with challengers Liverpool at Anfield, whose supporters congratulated Leeds. Leeds set a number of records including most points (67), most wins (27), fewest defeats (2), and most home points (39); a still-unbroken club record is their 34 match unbeaten run that extended into the following season. Leeds reinforced their front line breaking the British transfer record by signing Allan Clarke from Leicester City for £165,000. They targeted the treble in 1969–70 and came close to achieving this, only to fail on all three fronts in a congested close season, finishing second in the league to Everton, losing the 1970 FA Cup final to Chelsea (after a replay), and exiting the European Cup with a semi-final defeat to Celtic.

Having rejected an offer to manage Birmingham City, Revie chose to remain at Leeds for the 1970–71 season. Leeds and Arsenal both challenged for the title that season, though it would be the Gunners who would claim the league title, finishing one point ahead of Leeds after the latter lost to West Bromwich Albion following a controversial "offside" goal. United were also knocked out of the FA Cup by Fourth Division side Colchester United. Leeds again found success in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup though, beating Juventus in the final on away goals. Leeds again finished as runners-up in the 1971–72 season, but United did reach the 1972 FA Cup final, lifting the trophy after a 1–0 victory over Arsenal in the final.

In the 1972–73 season, the Whites again came close to a Treble, but they finished third in the league, losing the 1973 FA Cup final to Second Division Sunderland 1–0 against all expectations, and reached the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup against Italian club AC Milan at the Kaftanzoglio Stadium, where they were beaten 1–0 following some controversial refereeing by Christos Michas who was later banned by UEFA for 'fixing' other matches. Revie was offered the managers role at Everton in the summer, but chose to remain at Leeds. The following season, they won the 1973–74 First Division with a five-point lead over second-placed Liverpool. Revie chose to take the job of England national team manager at the end of the 1973–74 season.

In his 13 years in charge, Revie guided Leeds to two Football League First Division titles, one FA Cup, one League Cup, two Inter-Cities Fairs Cups, one Football League Second Division title and one Charity Shield. He also guided them to three more FA Cup Finals, two more FA Cup Semi-finals, one more Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final and one Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Semi-final, one European Cup Winners' Cup Final and one European Cup Semi-final. The team also finished second in the Football League First Division five times, third once and fourth twice. In a survey of leading football writers, historians and academics by Total Sport magazine, Revie's Leeds United were voted as one of the 50 greatest football teams of all time.

1974–1988: Post-Revie and relegation

Following the 1973–74 season, Revie left Leeds and Elland Road to manage the England 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. Clough's tenure as manager started badly, with defeat in the Charity Shield against Liverpool in which Billy Bremner and Kevin Keegan were sent off for fighting. Under Clough, the team performed poorly, and after only 44 days he was dismissed.

Clough was replaced by former England captain Jimmy Armfield. Armfield took Revie's ageing team to the final of the 1974–75 European Cup, in which they were defeated by Bayern Munich under controversial circumstances. 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 became impatient for success and dismissed Armfield in 1978, replacing him with Jock Stein, who also lasted just 44 days before leaving to manage Scotland. The board appointed Jimmy Adamson, but he was unable to stop the decline, and in 1980 Adamson resigned and was replaced by former player 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 teammate Eddie Gray.

With no money to spend on team building, Gray concentrated on youth development, but was unable to guide them to promotion from the Second Division. The board again became impatient and dismissed Gray in 1985, replacing him with another Revie teammate, Billy Bremner. Bremner found it just as difficult to achieve promotion, although Leeds reached the 1987 play-off final, but were defeated by Charlton Athletic. Leeds also endured a near miss in the FA Cup, losing out to Coventry City in the semi-finals.

1988–1996: Howard Wilkinson era

In October 1988, with the team 21st in the Second Division, Bremner was fired to make way for Howard Wilkinson. Leeds avoided relegation that season, and in March 1989 signed Gordon Strachan from Manchester United for £300,000. The Scottish midfielder was named captain, and helped Leeds win the Second Division in 1989–90 and gain promotion back to the First Division. Leeds finished fourth in 1990–91, and in the 1991–92 season they became champions of England for the third time. During the close season Leeds were founder members of the new Premier League, which became the top division of English football. However, the 1992–93 season saw Leeds exiting the Champions League in the early stages, and eventually finishing 17th in the league (having won no away matches 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 4–0 home defeat by Manchester United early in 1996–97, Wilkinson had his contract terminated. One of the legacies of Wilkinson and youth coach Paul Hart was the development of Leeds United's youth academy, which has produced numerous talented footballers over the years.^[]

1997–2001: Graham and O'Leary

Leeds appointed George Graham as Wilkinson's successor. This appointment was controversial as Graham had previously received a one-year ban from The Football Association for receiving illegal payments from a football agent. Graham made some astute purchases and also helped blood youngsters from Leeds' youth cup winning side. By the end of the 1997–98 season, Leeds had qualified for the following season's UEFA Cup. In October 1998, Graham left to become manager of Tottenham Hotspur, and Leeds opted to replace him with assistant manager David O'Leary.

Under O'Leary and assistant Eddie Gray, Leeds never finished outside the top five in the Premier League, and secured qualification for both the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League, enjoying cup runs to the semi-finals of both competitions. However, during the same period, the team's image was tarnished when players Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer were involved in an incident that left an Asian student in hospital with severe injuries. The resulting court case took nearly two years to resolve; Bowyer was cleared, but Woodgate convicted of affray and sentenced to community service. Additionally, in the UEFA Cup semi-final against Galatasaray in Istanbul, two Leeds fans were stabbed to death before the game.

2001–2007: Financial crisis and fall to League One

Under chairman Peter Ridsdale, Leeds had taken out large loans against the prospect of the share of the TV rights and sponsorship revenues from Champions League qualification and subsequent progress in the competition. However, Leeds narrowly failed to qualify for the Champions League in two successive seasons, 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 £30 million. Ridsdale and O'Leary publicly fell out over the sale, and O'Leary was dismissed on 27 June 2002, and replaced by former England manager Terry Venables. Leeds performed woefully 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 Ridsdale and Venables and, with the team underachieving, Venables was dismissed on 21 March 2003, and replaced by Peter Reid. Ridsdale resigned from the Leeds board and was replaced by existing non-executive director Professor John McKenzie. At this time Leeds were in danger of relegation, but managed to avoid the drop in the penultimate game of the season, beating Arsenal 3–2 away with a late strike by Mark Viduka.^[]

Reid was given a permanent contract at Leeds the following summer and brought in several players on loan. An unsuccessful start to the 2003–04 season saw Reid dismissed, and Eddie Gray take over as caretaker manager until the end of the season. An insolvency specialist, Gerald Krasner, led a consortium of local businessmen which took over Leeds and oversaw the sale of the club's assets, including senior and emerging youth players of any value. Leeds were relegated during the 2003–04 season.^[]

Following relegation to the Championship, assistant manager Kevin Blackwell was appointed manager. Most of the remaining players were sold or released on free transfers to further reduce the high wage bill; Blackwell was forced to rebuild almost the entire squad through free transfers, and Leeds were forced to sell both their training ground and stadium in the autumn of 2004.

In 2005, the club was bought by Ken Bates, who paid £10 million for a 50% stake. Under Blackwell, Leeds reached the Championship play-off final, which they lost to Watford. With the team performing poorly, Blackwell's contract was terminated, and Leeds hired John Carver as caretaker manager, but his spell was not a success and he was relieved of his duties, with Dennis Wise eventually installed as his replacement on 24 October 2006. Wise was unable to lift the team out of the relegation zone for much of the season, despite bringing in a number of experienced loan players and free transfers on short-term deals. With relegation virtually assured, Leeds entered administration on 4 May 2007, thus incurring a league-imposed 10-point deduction that officially relegated the club to the third tier of English football; the club had previously never played any lower than the second tier. The players whom Wise had brought in were released; he was forced to build a squad almost from scratch, and because of administration Leeds were unable to sign any players until a few days before the opening game of the season.^[]

2007–2010: League One

On 3 July 2007, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) lodged a legal challenge to Leeds' Creditors' Voluntary Agreement (CVA). Under league rules, if the club were still in administration at the start of the following season, Leeds would have been prevented from starting their season by the Football League. Following the challenge by HMRC, the club was put up for sale by KPMG, and again Ken Bates' bid was accepted. The League eventually sanctioned this under the "exceptional circumstances rule" but imposed a 15-point deduction due to the club failing to exit administration with a CVA, as the Football League rules required. On 31 August 2007, HMRC decided not to pursue its legal challenge any further.

Despite the 15-point deduction, Wise and his assistant Gus Poyet guided Leeds to a play-off position, only for Poyet to leave for Tottenham, and Wise quitting to take up a position at Newcastle United. Wise was replaced by former club captain Gary McAllister. Leeds went on to secure a place in the play-off final, but were beaten by Doncaster Rovers. The following season saw a poor run of results, and McAllister was dismissed after a run of five defeats in a row on 22 December 2008. He was replaced by Simon Grayson, who resigned from his post as manager of Blackpool to take the position. Under Grayson, Leeds made the play-offs once again, but were beaten over the two legs of the semi-finals by Millwall.^[]

In the 2009–10 season, the team secured the best start ever to a season by a Leeds side, and caused a major upset in the third round of the FA Cup by beating Manchester United at Old Trafford. After the impressive run in the FA Cup, Leeds' league form suffered, with the team taking just seven points from a possible 24. However, the team rallied and Leeds won their final game of the season to confirm promotion to the Championship as runners-up to Norwich City.^[]

2010–2014: Return to the Championship

Leeds spent much of the 2010–11 season in the play-off places, but eventually finished in seventh place, just missing out on the play-offs.^[]

In May 2011, it was announced that Leeds chairman Ken Bates had bought the club and become the owner of Leeds. Before the match against Middlesbrough, about 300 Leeds fans protested about what they saw as a lack of investment in the playing side, to which Bates responded by calling the protesters "morons".

Despite securing promotion to the Championship, Grayson was dismissed after failing to mount a consistent challenge for promotion to the Premier League. Neil Warnock was appointed as the club's new manager on 18 February, with his initial contract lasting until the end of the 2012–13 season.

On 21 November 2012, Middle East-based private equity group GFH Capital finalised a deal for a protracted takeover of Leeds, gaining a 100% shareholding in the club. It was also announced Ken Bates would remain as chairman until the end of the 2012–13 season and then become club president. The takeover was officially completed on 21 December 2012.

Despite runs to the quarter-finals of the League Cup and the fifth round of the FA Cup (albeit with both runs ending in five-goal thrashings, by Chelsea and Manchester City respectively), Leeds' league form in the 2012–13 season was generally mediocre, with the club never making any real challenge for the play-off places. Warnock resigned on 1 April 2013, with six games remaining, and Leeds just five points above the relegation zone. Brian McDermott replaced Warnock, and the club won three of their final five games of the season, enough to avoid relegation. That summer, Bates stepped down as chairman, and ultimately left the club altogether a few weeks later following a dispute over expenses.^[]

On 7 January 2014, Leeds United's managing director David Haigh was involved in Sport Capital, a consortium involving the managing director of Leeds United's main sponsors, Enterprise Insurance, Andrew Flowers. Sports Capital came close to completing a transaction with GFH Capital that would have given them a 75% stake in the business.

On 30 January, Sport Capital's takeover collapsed due to a lack of "financial backing". Haigh released a statement conceding that it was unable to complete a deal despite two months ago agreeing to purchase a 75% stake in the club from the owners Gulf Finance House. Haigh said he and Sport Capital had "injected substantial sums into the club to ensure its viability" but earlier in the week fellow consortium member Andrew Flowers, the managing director of Leeds' shirt sponsor Enterprise Insurance, stated that GFH had "breached their covenant with us" after inviting a rival bid from Massimo Cellino, the president of the Serie A club Cagliari Calcio. Haigh's statement read:

As fans know, we signed a share acquisition agreement with GFH Capital at the end of last year. This meant, I believed, that we were in a position to move things forward and complete the transaction in time for the January transfer window. ... Unfortunately, however, some of the consortium's backers ultimately didn't feel able to deliver the financial backing we had hoped was agreed to take the club forward.

On 31 January 2014, under controversial circumstances, it was reported that manager Brian McDermott had been removed from his position as the club's manager following a string of poor results, while the controversy surrounding the club was resolved. New club captain Ross McCormack expressed his support for the former manager. By 3 February the BBC was reporting that McDermott had been called by a lawyer representing Massimo Cellino "and told he had been relieved of his duties". However, Cellino still did not own the club, as the Football League had not yet approved his purchase, so neither he nor his lawyer could dismiss the manager. McDermott, therefore, remained in his post.

After weeks of speculation regarding the purchase of Leeds United, on 7 February 2014, Leeds United had announced that they had exchanged contracts for the sale of Leeds to Cellino's family consortium Eleonora Sport Ltd. The deal saw the Cellino family acquire a 75% ownership of the club, subject to Football League Approval.

At its meeting on 23 March 2014, the board of the Football League decided unanimously that Cellino's conviction by an Italian court meant that he did not meet its owners and directors test, so could not take over Leeds United.

In the backdrop of Cellino's takeover, Leeds suffered an appalling second half of the season, dropping from the play-off places to the fringes of the relegation battle. In the end, the weak performances of the teams below Leeds meant that they were never in any real danger of going down, and a late run of wins put survival beyond doubt well before the end of the season. However, McDermott resigned as manager on 30 May, 2014.

2014–2017: Cellino era

On 5 April, Cellino was successful in his appeal with independent QC Tim Kerr to take over the club. The takeover was completed on 10 April, with Cellino's company, Eleonora Sport Limited, buying 75% of the club's shares. Two months later, the inexperienced Dave Hockaday was surprisingly appointed head coach, with Junior Lewis hired as his assistant. After only 70 days, the pair were fired by Cellino. Darko Milanič was given the head coach position on 21 September 2014, becoming the club's first manager from outside the British isles and the first Slovene manager in English football, but left the club the following month. On 1 November 2014, Neil Redfearn was confirmed as the new head coach.

On 1 December 2014, Cellino was disqualified by the Football League after it obtained documents from an Italian court, where he was found guilty of tax evasion. He was disqualified from running the club until 10 April 2015, and on 24 February 2015, Cellino announced he would not be returning to the club after his ban ended. Redfearn was replaced by former Manchester City Player Uwe Rösler as head coach in May 2015, but Rosler was himself replaced by Steve Evans after only a few months in the role.

On 30 October 2015, Cellino agreed a deal in principle with Leeds Fans Utd to sell a majority stake in the club. When asked to legally commit to an exclusivity period to allow due diligence to commence, he reneged.

On 2 June 2016, Garry Monk was appointed as the new head coach, replacing Steve Evans. On 4 January 2017, Italian businessman Andrea Radrizzani purchased a 50% stake in the club from Massimo Cellino. At the close of the 2016–17 season, Leeds narrowly missed out on the play-offs. Leeds had been in the play-off positions for the majority of the season before a poor run of form in the final games saw them drop into seventh place. This was compounded by being knocked out in the fourth round of the FA Cup by non-League side Sutton United 1–0, who, at the time, were 83 places and three divisions below Leeds.

2017–2023: Radrizzani takeover and Premier League return

On 23 May 2017, Radrizzani announced a 100% buyout of Leeds United, buying the remaining 50% shares from previous co-owner Massimo Cellino, with Radrizzani taking full ownership of the club. Garry Monk resigned as head coach two days after the takeover, after one season at the club in which he guided them to seventh place. In June 2017, former Spain international Thomas Christiansen was announced as the new head coach. This was followed by Radrizzani introducing Leeds United Ladies back to Leeds United ownership. Also in June, Radrizzani completed the purchase of Elland Road from Jacob Adler's company, Teak Commercial Limited for £20 million, using his own company Greenfield Investment Pte Ltd.

On 4 February 2018, Christiansen was dismissed, after a bad run of games, leaving the team tenth in the Championship. On 6 February, Paul Heckingbottom was confirmed as Christiansen's replacement. On 24 May 2018, Leeds announced that 49ers Enterprises, the business arm of the NFL side San Francisco 49ers, had bought shares in the club to become a minority investor.. Heckingbottom was dismissed by Leeds in June 2018 after being at the club for just four months.

Argentine manager Marcelo Bielsa was named the club's new manager on 15 June 2018, signing a two-year contract with an option of a third year. In doing so he became the highest-paid manager in the club’s history.Bielsa's first season in charge saw Leeds make an impressive start and Leeds remained in the top two with Norwich City for the majority of the season, on course for automatic promotion to the Premier League. However, a poor end to the season saw the team lose out on automatic promotion to Sheffield United. They entered the play-offs against Derby County; despite winning the first leg 1–0, they ultimately lost 4–3 on aggregate which consigned them to another season in the championship.

On 17 July 2020, after sixteen years out of the Premier League, Leeds were promoted back to the top flight following West Bromwich Albion's loss to Huddersfield Town. Stoke City's defeat of Brentford the following day confirmed they would go up as winners of the Championship. Leeds had been in the top two for most of the season and had never dropped lower than fifth in the table, eventually going on to finish ten points clear of West Brom in second place.

The club's first season back in the Premier League produced a top half finish, their points tally was the most by a newly promoted side since Ipswich Town two decades earlier. However, the following season was not as successful and following a series of poor results, Bielsa was dismissed by the club in February 2022. Jesse Marsch was appointed as Bielsa's replacement, and he successfully led the club to avoid relegation on the final day of the season. Marsch was dismissed by the club in February 2023, and was replaced by Javi Gracia. Gracia was dismissed on 3 May 2023, having won just three of his twelve games in charge, and was replaced by Sam Allardyce, in the hope, he could avoid relegation for the second successive season. However, he was unable to prevent relegation as Leeds dropped back into the Championship on the final day of the season.

2023–present: Back in the Championship, 49ers takeover

With Allardyce having left the club after relegation, Daniel Farke was appointed as manager on 4 July 2023. Farke had previously won the Championship twice with Norwich City. On 18 July 49ers Enterprises, then owning 44% of the shares in the club, reached agreement with Radrizzani to purchase the remaining 56% in a complete takeover.