Those who have followed the fortunes of Leeds United over the last couple of years or so, would raise a wry smile at knowing that Leeds United were formed in 1919 after their predecessors (Leeds City) were folded amidst a row with the Football League over financial misdemeanours. The more things change, the more they stay the same!

Leeds City had been accused of making illegal payments to players and after they were disbanded, the United team were almost immediately formed out of the ashes and entered the Midland League on 31st October 1919, replacing Leeds City Reserves. United are not the original occupants of Elland Road either - the land was owned by Yorkshire Amateurs, who invited the new club to play there, eventually selling the ground to Leeds in 1920.

Leeds United were elected to the Football League for the start of the 1920-21 season and spent most of their early 40 years or so as a second tier side, occasionally yo-yoing up to the top tier before gravity overtook them and they returned back to the Second Division.

March 1961 represents the landmark moment in the club's history - the appoinment of Don Revie as manager. He arrived finding a club in financial turmoil that were in danger of dropping to Division Three. But by 1963-64, he had guided them into the First Division where they would begin the start of their glory years.

Across 10 years between 1965 and 1974, Leeds were consistently a top four First Division side, won the League Championship twice (1968-69 and 1973-74), the FA Cup and League Cup once each and the Fairs Cup twice. They were also finalists in the European Cup Winners Cup and the European Cup (now Champions League for all you youngsters out there). But just as Revie's arrival signalled their up-turn, so his departure for the England manager's job signalled their gradual decline, eventually resulting in relegation at the end of the 1981-82 season.

A series of management changes saw little change until Howard Wilkinson's arrival at the club in October 1988. Promotion back to the First Division was achieved in 1989-90 and by 1991-92 it seemed as though their glory days were back as Wilkinson took them to a third League Championship. But he couldn't repeat that feat in subsequent seasons and Leeds appeared to be slipping away.

The football map was radically changing, with hated rivals Manchester United in full flow and suddenly the Champions League and Sky Sports providing lucrative financial incentives for the most successful clubs. By now managed by David O'Leary and with Chairman Peter Ridsdale at the helm, Leeds began to chase the dream.

Initially it worked. A UEFA Cup semi-final place against Galatasaray was followed by a UEFA Champions League 2001 semi-final against Valencia, but then it began to crumble, with Ridsdale taking out huge loans on the expectation that the Champions League gravy train would continue to run.

It didn't. Leeds finished the next season one place outside the Champions League places, Rio Ferdinand was sold off to hated rivals Manchester United for 30 million and then O'Leary and Ridsdale were involved in a rather public war of words on the subject, and O'Leary exited stage left. Not that Ridsdale lasted much longer, as Leeds well and truly crashed and burned, with relegation coming at the end of the 2003-04 season, and suggestions that the Yorkshire side had clocked up 121 million pounds of debts at their peak. More players were sold, as were the training ground and Elland Road itself, and in came Ken Bates in January 2005, buying the club for 10 million, for a new chapter in the club's turbulent history.

Thereafter, it would be possible to write a whole book on what happened to Leeds. Having relatively stabilised matters in the Championship, and with manager Kevin Blackwell having projected in September 2006 that Leeds would be debt free within a year - a somewhat improbable claim, were it not for what was to materialise. Blackwell wasn't around to see that happen - Dennis Wise was appointed as manager barely a week after Blackwell's claim and Leeds began a dangerous slide towards the foot of the Championship.

A side issue here was that the Leeds fans hated the idea of their club being run by two ex-Chelsea stalwarts and began open demonstrations and chants of "Get The Chelsea Out Of Leeds" - a "Love Leeds Hate Bates" website was later set up. Results on the field of play hardly endeared either as Leeds finally tumbled out of the second tier of English football - their lowest standing in the pyramid since the year they formed.

Relegation coincided with Leeds falling into administration - a neat trick to nullify the Football League's 10 point penalty for any club taking administration as a means to reduce debts. KPMG were brought in as administrators and amidst more controversy, they sold the club ... back to Ken Bates! With local MPs chipping in with their view on the affair, and alternative backers questioning the bidding process, HM Revenue and Customs put in a legal challenge against the CVA, with debts recorded by KPMG against several off-shore companies. With the club hanging by a thread, and the Football League making noises about their own rules and regulations KPMG were eventually cajoled into putting the club up for sale again (!) whereupon they sold the club ... back to Ken Bates! This time though, there was no CVA for HMRC to challenge. However, that led to a twist in the tail, with the Football League declaring Leeds in breach of their insolvency rules and so deducting 15 points from the 2007-08 season and the FA (temporarily) expelling Leeds as full members for failing to set the CVA up the second time round.

Not that this appears to have done Leeds too much harm. They'd junked the best part of the 35 million quids worth of debts and Bates stated that the club was as good as debt-free - exactly as Blackwell had predicted - making them now probably the richest club in League One. The punishment given out by the Football League also had a welcome side-effect for Bates - it got the fans off his back and onto that of the authorities. That 15 points deduction now looks like a bargain.

Leeds fans were already working out their routes to Championship clubs as they headed to Wembley in the play-offs, only for Doncaster Rovers to urinate all over their parade from a great height. How gutted we all were. Dennis Wise had already headed off to Newcastle and nice guy Gary McAllister was in charge by then. A stuttering opening to the 2008-09 campaign didn't further his cause, a humiliating loss to Histon in the F.A. Cup live on TV drove the last nail into the coffin, and he didn't last a year. Leeds, being Leeds, illegally approached and poached Simon Grayson from Blackpool. Why should they care? They finished fourth this time around, but didn't even get to Wembley, Millwall putting them out of the play-offs at the semi-final stages.

Another day, another season, but still the investigations into Bates rumble on. The net seems to be closing. No longer is he treated by the media as a bluff shooter from the hip - 'Oh, that's just Ken being Ken again'. The dark side of Bates is emerging. Everyone knows the man is a dissembling liar, tax dodger and bully, but can what most suspect be proven: that he's a crook as well? Football, long the home of charlatans, shysters, fantasists and outright criminals, is beginning to change - if painfully slowly. Will Bates decide to retire to his Monaco tax haven before he's brought down, or will he again wriggle through that net? Whichever, at least there's one positive: at his age he can't be much longer in the game, and football will be, by a small degree, a better place when Bates is gone for good.

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RECENT RESULTS

16/02/2010	Walsall	Home	CCL1	L	1-2	18941		McSheffrey 54
20/02/2010	Brighton and Hove Albion	Home	CCL1	D	1-1	24120		Snodgrass 90
23/02/2010	Oldham Athletic	Home	CCL1	W	2-0	17635		Becchio 54, 61
27/02/2010	Huddersfield Town	Away	CCL1	D	2-2	21764		Howson 61, Becchio 66
06/03/2010	Brentford	Home	CCL1	D	1-1	25445		Beckford 72
09/03/2010	Tranmere Rovers	Away	CCL1	W	4-1	8346		Snodgrass 9, Beckford 16, 65, Becchio 34

FORTHCOMING FIXTURES

CLUB GOALSCORERS

Name	LGE	FAC	FAT	LGC	CC	Total
Jermaine Beckford	21	0	0	0	0	21
Luciano Becchio	10	0	0	0	0	10
Robert Snodgrass	7	0	0	2	0	9
Bradley Johnson	7	0	0	0	0	7
Max-Alain Gradel	3	0	0	0	0	3
Tresor Kandol	2	0	0	1	0	3
Jonathan Howson	3	0	0	0	0	3
Neil Kilkenny	2	0	0	0	0	2
Gary McSheffrey	1	0	0	0	0	1
Lubomir Michalik	1	0	0	0	0	1
Patrick Kisnorbo	1	0	0	0	0	1
Sam Vokes	1	0	0	0	0	1
Mike Grella	1	0	0	0	0	1
Andy Robinson	0	0	0	1	0	1
Leigh Bromby	1	0	0	0	0	1
Own Goals	1	0	0	0	0	1

ATTENDANCE STATISTICS

Highest League Attendance: 36723, vs Huddersfield Town, 05/12/2009
Lowest League Attendance: 17635, vs Oldham Athletic, 23/02/2010
Average League Attendance: 24207

CURRENT LEAGUE SEQUENCE STATISTICS

Games Without A Win:	0		Games Without A Home Win:	1
Games Without An Away Win:	0		Games Without Defeat:	5
Games Without A Home Defeat:	3		Games Without An Away Defeat:	4
Games Without A Draw:	1		Games Without A Score Draw:	1
Games Without A No-Score Draw:	15		Games Without Scoring:	0
Games Without Conceding:	0		Home Results Sequence:	DWLDWD
Away Results Sequence:	LLDDDW		Overall Results Sequence:	LDWDDW

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Club Bar :

There is alcohol on sale inside the stadium.

Local Pubs :

The Old Peacock pub is situated right outside the South Stand, but despite it being so close to the away turnstiles, it is a designated 'home' supporters club owned by Leeds United Supporters Club and isn't recommended for away fans. They allow car parking in the car park at the cost of £5.00, and you'll find that LUSC have a trailer in there selling old programmes. For beers, you're far better off going a little further afield. There isn't really a lot around Elland Road that is worthy of attention bar the Drysalters, which will be the mainstay for most away fans. If you want something a little more traditional or unique, you'll need to head into the City Centre or to the Holbeck area where there are a number of worthy pubs. In the centre Mr Foley's Cask Ale House (York Brewery), Victoria Family & Commercial and the appropriately named Town Hall Tavern (Timothy Taylor) are close by the Town Hall. Two very convenient to the station for those arriving by train, the Scarbrough Hotel and Whitelocks First City Luncheon Bar are amongst those with a write up below.

Trendy, expensive, but good. © Hugh Gleave Cross Keys: This pub is in the Holbeck area of the city, north of the ground on the opposite side of the M621 motorway and just south of the canal. It's South-West of the main railway station and so handy if you're planning to walk from the station to the ground. You're probably around 1.5 miles from the ground, but if you like real ale it is worth it, with four ales usually on tap including a stout or porter. They place a strong emphasis on food here. The ambience is rather trendy, as is the food, but it was good for all that. Opening hours: 12.00 noon - 11.00pm every day except Sundays which close half an hour earlier. There's a beer garden - well a paved yard - at the back for smokers, and others, who wish to sit outside. Cross Keys, 107 Water Lane, The Round Foundry, Holbeck, Leeds, Yorkshire, LS11 5WD. Tel: 0113-243-3711. Email: info@the-crosskeys.com. Website: Click Here. Map: Click Here.

Drysalters: This is the nearest pub to the ground that is considered OK for away fans. It's situated at the South-West corner of Elland Road, close to Junction 1 of the M621. You'll pass it as you're coming into the Elland Road car parks from that junction. It's not a pub for real ale drinkers. But if you like a pub full of mainstream lagers and fizzy cider, along with four plasma screens, pub grub served from 12.00 noon then this is the place to be. Children welcome until 8.00pm. Opening: Monday - Saturday 11am - 11pm. Sunday 12noon - 11pm. Drysalters, Elland Road, Leeds, Yorshire, LS11 8AX. Tel: 0113 2700229. Map: Click Here.

Very nice, and mildy eccentric, landlord. © Martin Baker Grove Inn: This pub is in the Holbeck area of the city, north of the M621 heading from the ground to the City Centre. It is close to the Cross Keys, so if you do one, then try to do both. This is a traditional drinkers pub with, on our most recent visit to the website, Hoegaarden and Leffe beers, Leeds Pale Ale, Daleside Blonde, Pride of Pendle, a Mild and Guinness on. It's old-fashioned, dating from 1850, contrasting with the more modern office blocks that have since sprung up in the area. They do lunches, but unfortunately not on a Saturday, so maybe have a meal in the Cross Keys and then head across to the Grove Inn. About 1.5 miles walk from the ground. Opening hours: 12.00 noon - 11.00pm, with an hour extension on Friday and Saturday nights usually for live bands, and with Sundays shutting half an hour earlier. Grove Inn, Back Row, Holbeck, Leeds, Yorkshire, LS11 5PL. Tel: 0113 2439254. Website: Click Here. Map: Click Here.

Right by the railway station. © Hugh Gleave Scarbrough Hotel: Right outside Leeds Railway Station, Tetley is the house beer - which is unlikely to excite many - but it normally stocks up to an additional seven real ales (and sixteen when a beer festival is on, but that's January and August). There's usually a cider and a perry served on gravity available. Food is served, and opening times are 11.00 a.m. - midnight Monday to Saturday, noon - 10.30 Sunday. Scarbrough Hotel, Bishopgates Street, Leeds, Yorkshire, LS1 5DY. Tel: 0113 2434590. Map: Click Here.

Hidden down a tiny alley off Briggate. © Hugh Gleave Whitelocks First City Luncheon Bar: One of the oldest pubs in Leeds - continuously a hostelry since at least 1715 - it has Theakstons Best Bitter, Theakstons Old Peculiar and Deuchars IPA as the house ales, plus an ever changing five guests. As one might expect from the style of the building - it's on Camra's Inventory Part One List which comprises 197 pubs of exceptional historical/architectural interest - the food is traditional style too: tray pie, bangers and mash, fish and chips etc. Opening is 11.00 a.m. - 11.00 p.m. Monday to Saturday, noon - 10.30 p.m. Sunday. Food is served: noon - 3.00 p.m. and 5.00 p.m. - 8.00 p.m. weekdays; noon - 6.00 p.m. Saturday; noon - 4.00 p.m. Sunday. Whitelocks First City Luncheon Bar, Turks Head Yard, (Off Briggate), Leeds, Yorkshire, LS1 6HB. Tel: 0113 2453950. Website: Click Here. Map: Click Here.

Likelihood the Natives Will Understand You :

Yorkshire dialect vs Zummerzett drawl? We suspect that there are likely to be plenty of puzzled looks from either side. Best trick is to smile and nod politely and hope the question wasn't "Do you think Peter Ridsdale was a good Chairman?"

Top-Tip :

If a gentleman with a white beard comes up to you asking if you can lend him money, talk to your financial advisor first - it may not quite be the business opportunity you were hoping for.

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[No responsibilty is taken for any inaccuracies. This page is entirely the product of bias and prejudice.]

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