47 Facts About Leeds United

Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

In 1914 Chapman declared; "This city is built to support top-flight football", but Leeds United City were forcibly disbanded and forced to sell off all their players by The Football League in 1919 in response to allegations of illegal payments to players during the First World War.

At Salem Congregational Chapel, Leeds in 1919, Leeds United was formed, and they received an invitation to enter the Midland League, being voted into it on 31 October, taking the place vacated by Leeds City Reserves.

Leeds United finished fourth in the First Division and were beaten in the FA Cup semi-finals by Everton.

Leeds United set a number of records including most points, most wins, fewest defeats, and most home points ; a still-unbroken club record is their 34 match unbeaten run that extended into the following season.

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Leeds United were knocked out of the FA Cup by Fourth Division side Colchester Leeds United.

Leeds United again found success in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup though, beating Juventus in the final on away goals.

Leeds United 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.

Bremner found it just as difficult to achieve promotion, although Leeds United reached the 1987 play-off final, but were defeated by Charlton Athletic.

Leeds United endured a near miss in the FA Cup, losing out to Coventry City in the semi-finals.

Wilkinson's Leeds United 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 United lost to Aston Villa.

In October 1998, Graham left to become manager of Tottenham Hotspur, and Leeds United opted to replace him with assistant manager David O'Leary.

Under O'Leary and assistant Eddie Gray, Leeds United 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.

Under chairman Peter Ridsdale, Leeds United had taken out large loans against the prospect of the share of the TV rights and sponsorship revenues from UEFA Champions League qualification and subsequent progress in the competition.

However, Leeds United 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.

Leeds United 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.

Reid was given a permanent contract at Leeds United the following summer and brought in several players on loan.

An insolvency specialist, Gerald Krasner, led a consortium of local businessmen which took over Leeds United and oversaw the sale of the club's assets, including senior and emerging youth players of any value.

Under Blackwell, Leeds United reached the Championship play-off final, which they lost to Watford.

The players whom Wise had brought in were released; he was forced to build a squad almost from scratch, and because of administration Leeds United were unable to sign any players until a few days before the opening game of the season.

Under league rules, if the club were still in administration at the start of the following season, Leeds United would have been prevented from starting their campaign by the Football League.

Leeds United went on to secure a place in the play-off final, but were beaten by Doncaster Rovers.

Leeds United was replaced by Simon Grayson, who resigned from his post as manager of Blackpool to take the position.

Under Grayson, Leeds United made the play-offs , but were beaten over the two legs of the semi-finals by Millwall.

However, the team rallied and Leeds United won their final game of the season to confirm promotion to the Championship as runners-up to Norwich City.

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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.

Leeds United 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.

Leeds United had been in the Playoff positions for the majority of the season before a poor run of form in the final games saw them drop into seventh place.

On 24 May 2018, Leeds United announced that 49ers Enterprises had bought shares in the club to become a minority investor.

Bielsa's first season in charge saw Leeds United make an impressive start and Leeds United remained in the top 2 with Norwich City for the majority of the season, on course for automatic promotion to the Premier League.

On 17 July 2020, after 16 years out of the Premier League, Leeds United were promoted back to the top flight following West Bromwich Albion's loss to Huddersfield Town.

Leeds United had been in the top 2 for most of the season and had never dropped lower than 5th in the table, eventually going on to finish 10 points clear of West Brom in 2nd.

Leeds United eventually left Huddersfield to take over at Leeds.

In 1934, Leeds United switched to blue and yellow halved shirts incorporating the city crest, white shorts and blue socks with yellow tops.

In 1950, Leeds United switched to yellow shirts with blue sleeves and collars, white shorts and black, blue and gold hooped socks.

In 1955, Leeds United changed again to royal blue shirts with gold collars, white shorts, and blue and yellow hooped socks, thus echoing the original Leeds United City strip.

Between 1971 and 1973, Leeds United used the "LUFC" script that runs down the centre of the current badge, albeit in a diagonal fashion rather than the present vertical.

On 20 February 2019, Leeds United revealed a predominantly gold coloured badge that would be worn on the players' kit during the club's centenary season.

Leeds United have only ever used one stadium as their home ground, Elland Road, where they have played at since their foundation in 1919.

Leeds United will have a period of paying no rent and be able to invest in other areas of the club.

Famous Leeds United supporters include: actors Ralph Ineson, Russell Crowe, Matthew Lewis, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau; comedian Jon Richardson and boxer Josh Warrington.

Leeds United are 10th in the all-time average attendance figures for the Football League and Premier League.

Leeds United hold extreme bitterness towards the Turkish club Galatasaray following the deaths of the two supporters the night before a UEFA Cup semi-final in Istanbul in April 2000.

Single 'Leeds United' was released in April 1972 to coincide with the team reaching the 1972 FA Cup Final, composed by Les Reed and Barry Mason with the team providing the vocals.

Leeds United have had nine caretaker managers, three of whom had previously occupied the role on a full-time basis, and one of whom occupied the role three times.

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The most successful manager of Leeds United is Don Revie, who won two League Championships, two Inter-Cities Fairs Cups, one Division Two Championship, one FA Cup, one League Cup and one Charity Shield in his 13-year reign as manager.

Leeds United is the club's longest-serving manager, presiding over 740 games from 1961 to 1974.