The most unlikeliest of coincidences saw the birth of Leeds United, it was October 17, 1919 when a group of Leeds City's
loyal supporters and officials got together and established our club Leeds United. This was also the day that Leeds City's
playing staff were being auctioned off at the Metropole Hotel in Leeds. Leeds United were born and two weeks after their
inception were elected to the Midland League on 31 October 1919.
Hilton Crowther took over Leeds United the wealthy chairman of Huddersfield Town and invested heavily in the club
financially also appointing Arthur Fairclough as manager on 26 February 1920. Leeds United were elected to the
league on 31 May 1920 along with Cardiff City.
That first season wasn't the best and Leeds finished in 14th place.
Leeds managed to score only 10 away goals that term which is the worst total in the clubs history. The period of
1921-22 saw Leeds better their league debut by 6 places finishing in 8th and a season later in 1922-23 they finished
in a worthy seventh spot. The term of 1923-24 witnessed an important and memorable landmark in Leeds United's history, they won the
second division on 54 points winning their first ever trophy and achieving first division football for the city of
Leeds. A good Leeds United side that year but unfortunately the team struggled in the season of 1924-25 their first
time out in division one finishing in 18th place.
A worse time followed in 1925-26 and Leeds only just managed to
escape relegation by beating Spurs at home 4-1, it went to the last game. During these two seasons the side was
developing but their luck wasn't to hold out when in the season of 1926-27 they were relegated losing first division
status. Amazingly though during that season Leeds managed a record of 69 goals with Tom Jennings bagging 35.
Probably due to the case that defenders were still getting used to the changes in the off-side rule that was
brought about in 1925. Fairclough resigned as manager after the relegation and Dick Ray took over taking
on the decent side that Fairclough had built. Ray managed to guide that side to the runners up position in
1927-28 in his first season and the team achieved a club record of 98 goals. Back in the top flight for 1928-29
and Leeds did well finishing in 13th position. Leeds earned their best finish ever up to date in the following
term of 1929-30 finishing an impressive 5th.
There was genuine belief and hope around the camp at that time
that Leeds could put in a challenge for the title come the next season but disappointingly in the season of 1930-31
they could only manage to win 12 games and were relegated back to the second division.
The roller coaster ride had
only just begun though, for Leeds United once again returned to the top division as runners up in the season of
1931-32. Leeds had had a fantastic period winning 9 consecutive games in a run of 15 unbeaten. Back in the first
for 1932-33 and Leeds lost their first two but went on another unbeaten run of 14 games. Despite
a poor finish they still managed 8th position. The club again had a reasonable season in 1933-34 finishing in
9th position, beating Leicester 8-0 and finished only three points behind fourth placed Derby. Wilf Copping the
original hardman of English football moved down the road to Arsenal before the kick off of the 1934-35 term
which proved costly for Leeds. Sinking to 18th in the league and losing 8-1 to Stoke and 7-1 to Chelsea in the
bargain. Will Copping started his Leeds career in 1930-31 at left half and was nominated as one of the Top 100 British
footballers of all time. Maybe we should have kept him!
Dick Ray resigned as manager and Billy Hampson who was one
of the Leeds City's guest players took over. The season of 1935-36 and Leeds United finished it in a more comfortable
mid table position but again in 1936-37 saw another slump with Leeds finishing in 19th position avoiding the drop
by only two points. An improvement followed in 1937-38 with Leeds up amongst the title challengers in the preliminary
stages of the season but from December to April they only managed two wins which saw them finish in 9th. The season
of 1938-39 was the last full season before the outbreak of World War Two in which Leeds United had made little
progress finishing in 13th spot.
England declared war on Germany in September of 1939 and all official football
activities had been postponed. Leeds at the time were at the bottom of the divison with just three games played.
During the war the FA did allow football to continue but only with restrictions on players pay and if the local
police consented. Many clubs still decided to close down while the war was still active but Leeds United played
through and in 1939-40 played in the North-East Division. Elland Road had been taken over by the army but Leeds
could still use the ground on match days. Leeds finished 5th in a division of 11 with teams that include Newcastle and
Bradford. That season was probably one of the most organised of the periods during the war.Things were obviously
chaotic and the crowds were low very rarely reaching over the 5,000 mark. Teams didn't know if players would be
availabe and sometimes relied on reserves from other teams and even spectators.
1940-41 and Leeds United were still playing through the war in the Northern Divison which now had 36 teams
involved in it. Leeds that season finished in 15th spot with Wilf Copping playing for the club when he was
on leave from the army. An odd period followed for the term of 1941-42 with the Northern Championship having
two championships. The first had 38 teams playing in it and Leeds finished 26th winning 7 of their 18 games.
Leeds didn't qualify for the second championship because they had played fewer than 18 games. With the season
of 1942-43 came more madness things were getting pretty desperate and it was almost impossible to organise
anything. The league had two championships again and Leeds finished 43rd and 47th using 70 different players.
They managed to win 8 out of 34 matches conceding nearly a 100 goals. There was an improvement in 1943-44 but
Leeds still finished outside of the top 20.
The 1944-45 period saw the last year for the two championsips format
and again Leeds didn't do well but things were looking better on the war front and football always seemed
secondary. After the war the football league faced many problems players were still on active service, petrol
was rationed and many grounds had recieved bomb damage. So it was decided to split the league into regional
sections to reduce travel. There was to be a Northern Section and Southern Section. 1945-46 and the manager of Leeds Billy
Hampson managed to get a squad together, he felt confident of the coming season considering the circumstances.
It proved however to be a very bad experience for Leeds United finishing bottom and only winning 9 times. Leeds
were grateful that for that season relegation had been abandoned. Off the field and Leeds United were seen as
a bit of a joke, the Elland Road faithfull were very fearful of what the resumption of the football league
would bring.
1946-47 saw the resumption of the football league. The English people could not have been more
hungry for football and the crowds that year were phenominal, football being one of the things that wasn't
rationed. It proved also a very memorable year for Leeds United although all for the wrong reasons. This is
probably the worst season in Leeds United's history. Leeds managed to earn only 18 points all season with just
one of them points earned away. This equalled the first divisions lowest points total ever until 1984-85 when
Stoke did even worse. Leeds United conceded 90 goals that period and with that a ticket back down to divison
two. Billy Hampson was finished and former player Willis Edwards took over as the new Leeds United manager.
1947-48 and confidence at Elland Road was at an all time low, Willis Edwards just didn't have the experience
for the role. A Leeds team in this state needed someone with a little more breeding. Form for that season
marginally improved but Leeds still found themselves in a relegation battle and Edwards was moved to the
position of assistant manager.
Next man for the managers position at Elland Road was Major Frank Buckley. A
manager who had experience and success with Wolves. The season of 1948-49 didn't prove too succesful for
Buckley and Leeds though coming in at 15th, only two points above relegation. He did however come up with a genius
find, Buckley signed John Charles. Finally after a decade of what seemed like an endless slope for Leeds 1948-49
looked like they were about to take a turn for the best, the rot was finally being stopped and Leeds could
start looking forward.The season was hardly a success but the signs were there in young John Charles and the
experience of Buckley. Leeds had previously tasted division one football and Leeds were hungry again.
Buckley had made many changes on and off the field and Leeds had vastly imroved. For the term of 1949-50 Leeds
managed to finish 5th and made it all the way to the quarter finals of the FA cup, the best Leeds had ever
done at the time.
Page Three
|
Auctioned Players
Arthur Fairclough
Leeds 1923-24
Billy Hampson
Tommy Burden
Willis Edwards
Buckley Signs
John Charles
Leeds 1949-50
Charles Action
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)