Leeds United
Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club's home ground is Elland Road.
The club's most common nicknames
are "The Whites" and "The Peacocks", the latter stemming from the former name of Elland Road, The Old Peacock Ground. Although the club's name includes "AFC",
the
current
badge
reads
"LUFC".
The club have competed at the top level of English football for the majority of their existence, following the disbanding of
predecessor
Leeds City
in
1919. Under
the
management of Don
Revie
during the 1960s and 1970s, Leeds won two First Division titles, the FA Cup,
the League Cup
and the Inter-Cities
Fairs Cup
twice. 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
two seasons later, in 1992. During the 1990s and early 2000s Leeds competed for
places in Europe,
reaching the
semi-finals of the UEFA Cup and
the
UEFA Champions League in consecutive seasons.
However, after severe
financial
difficulties and a mass sale of
players, Leeds
were
relegated from the Premier
League and
subsequently from The
Championship three years later. After three seasons in League One they were promoted back
to the Championship on the last day of the 2009–10 season.
Being the city's only professional football team, Leeds United are
associated with a
large, passionate fan base. Recent online research indicates that they are in the top 10 most supported clubs in England.
Leeds began the 2010–11 season in the Championship after ending a run of spiralling down the divisions. Long serving
players
such as Rui Marques and Casper Ankergren were released. Jermaine Beckford, Leeds' top scorer
in
the last three
seasons,
had
his
contract cancelled before he joined Premier League club Everton. Leeds, however, did make something of a transfer coup when
they
signed
highly rated
goalkeeper
Kasper Schmeichel, son of the legendary Peter. Leeds moved for a
replacement
for Jermaine Beckford when they signed Swindon striker Billy Paynter after his contract had expired: Paynter had
scored 29 goals
in the
previous season, one more than Beckford in the last League One campaign. Pre-season was marred when Patrick Kisnorbo suffered a ruptured
achilles tendon,
ruling him out of
the
first
few
months of
the league campaign.
Leeds brought in right-back and former Derby County captain Paul Connolly,
and later made their
fourth summer signing
by
bringing
in Swansea
left-back
Fede Bessone,
who,
like Luciano Becchio, had trained at Barcelona earlier in his
career. Two new players
later joined when the Whites
re-signed Neill
Collins from
Preston
for an
undisclosed fee following
his
earlier loan spell; he was
followed by Leeds-born winger
Lloyd Sam, signed on a free transfer
from Charlton. Simon
Grayson's seventh
signing saw
the
versatile Alex Bruce join from Ipswich
Town
for an undisclosed fee.
Leeds completed their pre-season campaign on
31
July with an encouraging
3–1 win over Premier
League side
Wolverhampton
Wanderers at
Elland Road. Leeds' eighth
signing
came in the form of winger Sanchez Watt, who
re-joined the club on loan after an
impressive loan spell
from Arsenal the
previous
season.
The 9th signing of the summer
was completed on
6 August
when Leeds signed
midfielder Adam Clayton on loan from
Manchester City. Leeds lost their
opening
league
fixture 2–1 against Derby
County
on 7 August at Elland Road, the game was the
first
opening
day fixture the Whites had lost
for 21 years. The first point of
the
league campaign came
in the match
against Nottingham
Forest at the City Ground with a 1–1
draw.
Leeds
picked up their first
win in the
Championship by
beating rivals Millwall
3–1 at Elland Road,
with
South African striker Davide Somma
scoring twice on
his league
debut. Leeds brought in the
11th and 12th signings
of
the season by bringing in Cardiff
City
striker Ross McCormack and
Honduran trialist Ramón Núñez. Adam
Clayton's loan
move was made permanent for an unisclosed fee
from
Manchester City. On 9
September, Leeds
signed
Senegalese International Amdy Faye
on a free transfer after
a short trial.
After Kasper Schmeichel
picked
up an ankle
injury Leeds signed Jason Brown on loan
from
Blackburn Rovers to provide
cover. On
23
September,
Northern Ireland international George McCartney
followed on an initial month loan deal
from Sunderland. At the start of
December Leeds
found
themselves challenging in
and
around the playoff
spots. Leeds were
also drawn against Arsenal F.C. in the FA Cup to be played
at the Emirates
Stadium live on
ITV
on 8
January 2011. On Christmas Day
2010 Leeds were
lying 2nd in The
Championship. The day also coincided with the 2 year anniversary of the
appointment of
Simon Grayson.
8
December Leeds managed to earn a
draw against Arsenal F.C.,
Leeds were 1–0 up when
Robert Snodgrass scored a second half penalty,
Arsenal F.C.
equalised in the 90th minute when
Cesc
Fabregas
scored a penalty.
In the FA Cup
replay vs Arsenal, Leeds
were knocked out of the
Cup when Arsenal beat
them 3–1
in front of a full
house at Elland Road. With
Samir Nasri,
Bacary Sagna and Robin
Van Persie scoring the goals. Leeds' midfielder
Bradley Johnson scored a
wonder goal for Leeds to pull a goal back.
2010–present: Return to The Championship
League: League One
Founded: 1919
Nicknames: The Whites, United, the Peacocks
Stadium: Elland Road
Chairman: Ken Bates
Manager: Gary McAllister
