Leeds United F.C. — BrandWiki

Leeds United F.C.

Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football.

Leeds United have won the League Championship three times, five Second Division titles, the FA Cup once, the League Cup once, the Charity Shield twice and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup twice. The club had their most successful period under the management of Don Revie in the 1960s and 1970s, when they won the League title twice, the FA Cup once, the League Cup once and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup twice. The club have also been runners-up five times in the League Championship, three times in the FA Cup, once each in the League Cup, the Charity Shield, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the Cup Winners' Cup and the European Cup, and lost the play-off to keep the Inter-City Fairs Cup trophy.

Leeds United share rivalries with Manchester United and Chelsea. The team's traditional kit colours are white shirts, white shorts and white socks. Their badge features the White Rose of York, which is a symbol of Yorkshire.

History

Pre-Leeds United

1961–1974: Don Revie era

On 17 March 1961, Don Revie was appointed as manager following the resignation of Jack Taylor.[8] His stewardship began in adverse circumstances; the club was "in financial difficulty"[11] and in 1961–62 only a win in the final game of the season saved the club from relegation to the Third Division.[12] Revie implemented a youth policy and a change of kit colour to an all-white strip in the style of Real Madrid,[13] and Leeds United won promotion to the First Division in 1963–64.[9] Leeds United finished second in the league on goal average in 1964–65, and also reached the final of the FA Cup, losing to Liverpool at Wembley after extra-time.[14] Leeds United again finished second in the league in 1965–66,[15] whilst also reaching the semi-finals of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, losing on aggregate to Spanish side Real Zaragoza.[16] Leeds United finished fourth in the league in 1966–67, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the FA Cup, losing to Chelsea and the final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, losing to Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb.[17]

Leeds United nearly doubled their record transfer in 1967–68, buying Sheffield United centre-forward Mick Jones for £100,000.[18] Leeds United won their first major trophy, the League Cup, with Terry Cooper's goal securing the win against Arsenal in the final.[19] Leeds United finished fourth in the league and were beaten in the FA Cup semi-finals by Everton.[20][21] They also reached a second successive Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final and this time won the trophy, beating Hungarian side 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.[22] Leeds United secured the title in 1968–69, after a draw with challengers Liverpool at Anfield, whose supporters congratulated Leeds.

Leeds United broke the British transfer record in 1969–70, by signing Leicester City centre-forward Allan Clarke for £165,000.[26] Leeds United targeted the treble and came close to achieving it, only to fail on all three fronts in a congested close season, finishing second in the league to Everton, losing the FA Cup final to Chelsea (after a replay), and exiting the European Cup with a semi-final defeat to Celtic.[27] Leeds United and Arsenal both challenged for the league title in 1970–71, though it would be Arsenal who would claim it, finishing one point ahead after the former lost to West Bromwich Albion following a controversial "offside" goal.[28] They were also knocked out of the FA Cup by Fourth Division side Colchester United,[29] but did again find success in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, beating Juventus

Don Revie guided Leeds United 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. Leeds 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 were voted as one of the 50 greatest football teams of all time.[38]

1988–2002: Wilkinson, Graham and O'Leary

In October 1988, with Leeds United 21st in the Second Division, Bremner was dismissed to make way for Howard Wilkinson.[8] 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.[42] 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 losing to Aston Villa. Leeds United could only finish thirteenth in 1995–96, and after a 4–0 home defeat by Manchester United early in 1996–97, Wilkinson had his contract terminated.[8] 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.

Leeds United appointed George Graham as Wilkinson's successor.[8] 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.[43] 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.[8]

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.[44][45]

2010–2020: Return to the Championship

Leeds United spent much of their first season back in the Championship in the play-off places, but eventually finished in seventh place, just missing out on the play-offs.[77] In May 2011, it was announced that chairman Ken Bates had bought the club.[78] 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".[79] Despite securing promotion to the Championship, Grayson was dismissed on 1 February 2012 after failing to mount a consistent challenge for promotion to the Premier League.[80] Neil Warnock was appointed as the club's new manager,[8] with his initial contract lasting until the end of the following season.[81]

On 21 November 2012, Middle East-based private equity group GFH Capital finalised a deal for a protracted takeover of Leeds United, gaining a 100% shareholding in the club. It was also announced Ken Bates would remain as chairman until the end of the season, and then become club president.[82] The takeover was officially completed on 21 December 2012.[83] 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 was generally mediocre, with the club never making any real challenge for the play-off places. On 1 April 2013, Warnock resigned as manager.[84] Brian McDermott replaced Warnock,[85] and the club won three of their final five games of the season, enough to avoid relegation. On 26 July 2013, Ken Bates stepped down as chairman, and ultimately left the club altogether following a dispute over expenses.[86]

On 7 January 2014, Sport Capital came close to completing a transaction with GFH Capital that would have given them a 75% stake in the business.[87] 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 Serie A side Cagliari Calcio.[88] 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.[89]"

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.[90] Ross McCormack expressed his support for the former manager.[91] 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.[92] On 7 February, Leeds announced that they had exchanged contracts for the sale of the club 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.[93] On 23 March, 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 he could not take over.[94] 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.

On 5 April 2014, Cellino was successful in his appeal with independent QC Tim Kerr to take over the club.[96] The takeover was completed on 10 April, with Cellino's company, Eleonora Sport Limited, buying 75% of the club's shares.[97] Dave Hockaday was surprisingly appointed head coach, with Junior Lewis hired as his assistant,[98] the pair were dismissed two months later.[99] Darko Milanič was appointed head coach on 21 September 2014,[100] 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.[101] Neil Redfearn was confirmed as his replacement on 1 November 2014.[102]

On 30 October 2015, Cellino agreed a deal in principle with Leeds Fans Utd to sell a majority stake in the club.[108][109] When asked to legally commit to an exclusivity period to allow due diligence to commence, he reneged.[110] On 2 June 2016, Garry Monk was appointed as the club's new head coach, replacing Steve Evans.[111][112] On 4 January 2017, Italian businessman Andrea Radrizzani purchased a 50% stake in the club from Massimo Cellino.[113] Leeds United narrowly missed out on the play-offs, having been in the play-off positions for the majority of the season before a poor run of form in the final four games of the season saw them drop into seventh place,[114]

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.[116] 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.[117] On 15 June 2017, former Spain international Thomas Christiansen was announced as the new head coach.[118] This was followed by Radrizzani introducing Leeds United Women back to Leeds United ownership.[119] Also, 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.[120] Thomas Christiansen was dismissed[121] and replaced with Barnsley

On 1 June 2018, Heckingbottom was dismissed after being at the club for four months[124] and was replaced with Marcelo Bielsa.[125] Bielsa's first season in charge saw Leeds make an impressive start and remain 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.[126] Leeds United 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.[127]

2020–present: Promotion and relegation

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.[128] 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.[129]

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.[130] However, the following season was not as successful and following a series of poor results, Bielsa was dismissed by the club in February 2022.[131] Jesse Marsch was appointed as Bielsa's replacement, and he successfully led the club to avoid relegation on the final day of the season.[132] Marsch was dismissed by the club in February 2023,[133] and was replaced by Javi Gracia.[134] Gracia was dismissed on 3 May 2023,[8] having won just three of his twelve games in charge, and was replaced by Sam Allardyce,[8] in the hope, he could avoid relegation for the second successive season.[135] However, he was unable to prevent relegation as Leeds dropped back into the Championship on the final day of the season.[136]

With Allardyce having left the club after relegation,[8] Daniel Farke was appointed as manager on 4 July 2023.[8] Farke had previously won the Championship twice with Norwich City.[137][138] 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.[139] Leeds missed out on promotion in their first season back in the Championship after losing the play-off final to Southampton.[140] While recording a pre-tax loss of £60.8million, the club recorded £43.2m in commercial income for the 2023–24 campaign, the highest recorded in the Championship and surpassing the club's own 2019–20 record of £33.8m.[141]

After a slow start to the 2024–25 season, Leeds moved into 2nd place in the table on 18 October when they beat Sheffield United 2–0 at Elland Road.[142] They were not to leave the top 3 again that season; as early pace-setters Sunderland faltered, the race for promotion developed into a three-way battle with Sheffield United and Burnley. After a loss to Blackburn Rovers at the end of November, Leeds went on a three-month unbeaten run which included wins over rivals Sheffield United and Sunderland, and a 7–0 win over Cardiff City at Elland Road.[143] However, one victory in five games during March saw Leeds briefly drop to 3rd in the table, before a run of three wins, coupled with three unexpected defeats for Sheffield United, left them on the brink of promotion. On 21 April, Leeds beat Stoke City 6–0 at Elland Road, before Burnley beat Sheffield United in a later kick off, meaning that both were promoted automatically.[144] A late win at Plymouth Argyle on the last day of the season confirmed Leeds as winners of the Championship title.[145]

Badge

Leeds United's first badge appeared in 1934. Like Leeds City before them, the club adopted the coat of arms of Leeds, which remained on the kit in various guises until 1961.[148] For a number of seasons after 1961–62, when the all-white strip replaced the blue and gold, the shirts sported no badge at all.[149] A perching owl badge was added to the strip in 1964.[147] The design was a surprise given Revie's superstition about the symbolism of birds. The owl derived from the three owls that feature on the city's coat of arms, which in turn were taken from the coat of arms of Sir John Savile, the first alderman of Leeds. The owl was usually navy blue, but was coloured gold for the 1968 Football League Cup Final.[148]

Between 1971 and 1973, Leeds used the "LUFC" script that runs down the centre of the current badge, albeit in a diagonal fashion rather than the present vertical.[147] The script made a reappearance on the 'retro-look' Asics kit used during 1995–96. In 1973, came the embodiment of 1970s imagery with the iconic "Smiley" badge, made up of the letters L and U in bubble writing.[147] Revie's predilection for gimmicks was years ahead of its time, and done with the explicit intention of gaining acceptance from a public outside West Yorkshire.[147] In 1976, a mirror image of the crest was used with the colours reversed out which made the "LU" conceit easier to see. This was dropped the following season and replaced with a new design that placed the (original) Smiley badge inside a roundel bearing the club's name.[148] In 1980, a new badge appeared that was similar to that of the previous season, except now the club's name enclosed a stylised Peacock (a reference to the club's nickname, "The Peacocks").[147]

In 1984, another badge was introduced which lasted until 1998.[148] The distinctive rose and ball badge used the traditional blue, gold and white colours, and incorporated the White Rose of York, the club's name, and a football (a truncated icosahedron similar to the Adidas Telstar, but in Leeds colours) in the core section.[148] In 1998, the club logo was replaced with a more "European" shield design. The shield retained the white rose, as well as the blue, gold and white colours, with "LUFC" reading vertically down the centre.[150] In 1999, the badge was slightly amended in that the football from the 1984 badge was added to the centre of the white rose.[148]