60 Fun Facts About Leeds United

Leeds United were formed in 1919 at a meeting held where?

The new club took the Midland League place vacated by Leeds City Reserves after Leeds City were forcibly disbanded.

Why were Leeds City, Leeds United's predecessor club, forcibly disbanded by the Football League in 1919?

Leeds City had been formed in 1904 and elected to the League in 1905; the scandal killed them after just eight games of the 1919-20 season.

Yorkshire Amateurs sold Elland Road to the new Leeds United for how much?

Local businessmen had contemplated digging up the clay under the pitch and turning the ground into a brickyard before Yorkshire Amateurs stepped in.

Which club's chairman, Hilton Crowther, loaned Leeds United £35,000 and inspired their first striped kit?

Crowther was trying to merge the two clubs, which is why Leeds' first strip was modelled on his own team's.

John Charles left Leeds in 1957 for a then world-record fee of £65,000 to join which club?

The West Stand had burned down that year and the club needed the money to rebuild it; the stand now carries Charles's name.

Who became Leeds United's first black player when he made his debut on 30 November 1957?

Francis was a South African winger; his compatriot Albert Johanneson followed a few years later and became a Revie-era regular.

In 1961-62 Don Revie switched Leeds to an all-white strip in the style of which club?

Before that Leeds had worn blue and gold, and for several seasons after the change the shirts carried no badge at all.

Which Spanish club knocked Revie's Leeds out of the 1965-66 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup semi-final?

Leeds finished second in the league that season too, having lost the 1965 FA Cup final to Liverpool after extra time.

Leeds lost the 1967 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final to which Croatian side?

A year later Leeds went one better and won the trophy for the first time.

Leeds won their first major trophy, the 1968 League Cup, by beating which club at Wembley?

The same season Leeds also won the Fairs Cup, beating Ferencváros 1-0 on aggregate; the owl on the badge was coloured gold for the League Cup final.

Leeds' first Inter-Cities Fairs Cup win, in 1968, came over two legs against which Hungarian side?

Leeds won the first leg 1-0 and defended the lead with a 0-0 draw in Budapest a month later.

Leeds' club record unbeaten league run, set during the 1968-69 title season, lasted how many matches?

The title was clinched with a draw at Anfield, where the Liverpool crowd applauded the new champions.

Which club sold Allan Clarke to Leeds for a British-record £165,000 in 1969-70?

'Sniffer' Clarke later scored the only goal of the 1972 FA Cup final and went on to manage the club.

In 1970 Leeds chased a treble and lost the FA Cup final after a replay to which club?

That final has been called the most brutal game in English football history and is the root of the two clubs' rivalry.

Which Fourth Division club famously knocked Leeds out of the FA Cup in 1971?

Leeds recovered to beat Juventus in that season's Fairs Cup final, their second win in the competition.

Leeds' 1972 FA Cup final win, their first in the competition, came against which opponents?

Two days later Leeds lost their final league game at Wolves and with it the double.

Which Second Division club stunned Leeds in the 1973 FA Cup final?

Ian Porterfield scored the winner and Jim Montgomery made a legendary double save; Leeds also lost that season's Cup Winners' Cup final to AC Milan.

Christos Michas, referee of Leeds' 1973 Cup Winners' Cup final loss, was later banned by UEFA for what?

Despite Leeds' appeals no replay was ordered and Milan kept the trophy.

Don Revie left Leeds in 1974 to take which job?

He left having just won the club's second league title, five points clear of Liverpool.

Brian Clough's notoriously brief spell as Leeds manager in 1974 lasted how many days?

Jock Stein also lasted exactly 44 days in the job in 1978 before leaving to manage Scotland.

In the 1974 Charity Shield, Billy Bremner was sent off for fighting which Liverpool player?

Both men were banned; the match was the first Charity Shield played at Wembley and shown live on television.

Leeds lost the 1975 European Cup final 2-0 to which club?

A Peter Lorimer goal was disallowed after both officials had first signalled it, and the rioting that followed earned Leeds a European ban.

The 1975 European Cup final Leeds lost to Bayern was played at which stadium?

Leeds' semi-final route had gone through a Barcelona side captained by Johan Cruyff.

Which manager lasted just 44 days at Leeds in 1978 before leaving to take charge of Scotland?

Stein had won the European Cup with Celtic in 1967; the Leeds board had sacked Armfield in July 1978 to appoint him.

Which Scottish midfielder did Howard Wilkinson sign from Manchester United for £300,000 in 1989 and make captain?

He captained Leeds to the 1989-90 Second Division title and the 1991-92 First Division championship.

Which French striker did Leeds sign in January 1992, then sell to Manchester United for £1.2 million that November?

He was Leeds' top scorer when dropped; the champions failed to win a single away league game in 1992-93.

Which club did Leeds beat 3-2 to secure the last First Division title in 1991-92?

Manchester United lost at Liverpool the same day, handing Leeds the title.

Leeds' 1992-93 Champions League exit came to which club in a tie dubbed the 'Battle of Britain'?

Rangers won both legs; Leeds finished the season 17th and won no away league games at all.

Wilkinson's Leeds lost the 1996 League Cup final to which club?

The poor display hastened Wilkinson's exit; he was sacked early the next season after a 4-0 home defeat by Manchester United.

George Graham left Leeds in October 1998 to manage which club, with assistant David O'Leary taking over?

Graham's Leeds appointment had been controversial because of his FA ban for taking illegal payments from an agent.

O'Leary's Leeds reached the 2001 Champions League semi-finals, where they were beaten by which club?

On the way Leeds had played Barcelona, Real Madrid, Lazio and AC Milan; they then missed out on Champions League qualification by finishing fourth.

Two Leeds fans were stabbed to death before a UEFA Cup semi-final in April 2000 in which city?

The Galatasaray players refused to wear black armbands, and Leeds fans still hold a deep grievance against the club.

Which defender's £30m sale to Manchester United in 2002 first signalled Leeds' crisis?

Chairman Peter Ridsdale and O'Leary fell out publicly over the deal, and O'Leary was sacked in June 2002.

Who replaced David O'Leary as Leeds manager in June 2002 and was himself dismissed by March 2003?

Ridsdale had promised him Woodgate would not be sold, then sold him; Venables was dismissed in March 2003.

Leeds' 2007 administration and points deduction relegated them to which division for the first time?

A further 15-point deduction followed the next season for failing to exit administration with a CVA, yet Leeds still reached the play-off final.

In their 2009-10 League One season, Leeds caused a huge FA Cup upset by winning at which ground?

Jermaine Beckford scored the winner; Leeds went up as runners-up to Norwich City that May.

What nationality is Darko Milanič, Leeds' first manager from outside the British Isles?

He was gone the following month; the whirl of appointments came under owner Massimo Cellino.

Which NFL franchise's business arm invested in Leeds United in 2018 and took it over in 2023?

49ers Enterprises bought the remaining 56% from Andrea Radrizzani in July 2023.

Marcelo Bielsa's first season ended in play-off heartbreak against which club, who won 4-3 on aggregate?

Leeds had won the first leg 1-0 away; a year later they went up as champions after sixteen years out of the top flight.

Which club's defeat on 17 July 2020 confirmed Leeds' promotion?

Leeds finished ten points clear of West Brom as Championship winners.

Leeds lost the 2024 Championship play-off final to which club before winning the title the following year?

In 2024-25 Leeds put six past Stoke and seven past Cardiff at home and sealed the title with a late win at Plymouth.

One of Leeds' earliest nicknames, 'The Peacocks', comes from what?

Bentley's Brewery named the ground after its pub The Old Peacock, which still faces the site.

Leeds' 1973 'Smiley' badge was made up of which two letters in bubble writing?

In 1976 a mirror image with reversed colours was used to make the conceit easier to see.

The perching owl badge added to the Leeds strip in 1964 was surprising because of what?

The owl came from the three owls on the city's coat of arms, taken in turn from the arms of Sir John Savile, first alderman of Leeds.

Which player holds Leeds United's appearance record with 773 first-team games between 1952 and 1973?

The East Stand, once the largest cantilever stand in the world, is now named after him.

Leeds' all-time record goalscorer, with 238 goals over two spells, is who?

John Charles still holds the single-season record with 43 goals in 1953-54.

Leeds' most-capped international, Lucas Radebe, won 69 caps for which country while at the club?

The Leeds band Kaiser Chiefs took their name from Radebe's former club in Soweto.

The Leeds anthem 'Marching On Together' began life in 1972 as what?

The A-side, 'Leeds United', was written by Les Reed and Barry Mason and reached number 10 in the UK chart.

Elland Road's record attendance of 57,892 was set in March 1967 for an FA Cup replay against which club?

The modern all-seater record is 40,287, against Newcastle in December 2001.

What was Elland Road's Kop end called before being renamed the Don Revie Stand in 1994?

The Scratching Shed was the old barrel-roofed South Stand terrace, and the yellow-seated away corner is the 'cheese wedge'.

Which side of Elland Road was renamed in April 2020 after a Revie-era defender who had just died?

Norman Hunter, nicknamed 'Bites Yer Legs', was a 1966 World Cup squad member and a Leeds player for 14 years.

Elland Road stood in for the old Wembley Stadium in scenes from which Oscar-nominated 2010 film?

The Damned United, about Clough's 44 days, is the more obvious guess but the King's Speech crew used the ground for the 1925 Empire Exhibition speech.

Elland Road was one of eight host venues for which international tournament?

It has also hosted nine FA Cup semi-finals and, in 1995, England's first home international away from Wembley in 22 years.

In which season did Leeds first win the Second Division title and promotion to the top flight?

Arthur Fairclough was manager; the club was relegated again in 1926-27.

Which Sheffield United centre-forward did Leeds sign for a club-record £100,000 in 1967-68?

That season Leeds won the League Cup, their first major trophy.

Who bought Leeds United on 21 January 2005?

He later called protesting fans 'morons' and stayed on as chairman after GFH Capital's 2012 takeover.

Which Italian businessman completed a 100% buyout of Leeds in May 2017?

He had bought a 50% stake from Massimo Cellino that January and later reintroduced Leeds United Women.

Leeds' record of nine straight league wins was set in 1931 and equalled in which year?

The 2024 run under Daniel Farke lasted from 1 January to 23 February in the Championship.

Who replaced Marcelo Bielsa as Leeds head coach in February 2022?

He kept Leeds up on the final day but was himself dismissed the following February.

The club's well-known hooligan firm is called the United what?

Other supporter groups include Marching Out Together (LGBT fans) and the Punjabi Whites.