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Leeds United Football Club were founded in October 1919, after the compulsory winding up of Leeds City.

The new club took over City's fixtures in the Midland League and moved into Elland Road.

Election to Division Two

United successfully applied to join the Football League Second Division in 1920, and in 1924 they won the Second Division title and spent three seasons in the top flight before relegation in 1931.

They bounced back immediately but remained an average First Division side until 1947 when they were relegated again.

In 1955, the John Charles inspired United gained promotion to the First Division, and the following season they finished a creditable eight in the top flight.

However, the club were forced to sell Charles to Juventus to raise funds after fire destroyed their West Stand in 1956-57.

Without his inspiration on the pitch, United struggled and were back in Division Two in 1960.

The Revie Years

In 1961 the club appointed Don Revie as player/manager. Revie introduced radical changes to the club and turned Leeds into a major force in domestic and European competition.

During his thirteen year reign, Leeds won two League championships, one FA Cup, one League Cup and two Inter City Fairs Cups.

They were runners-up five times in Division One and lost three FA Cup Finals in the same period.

When Revie left to manage England in 1974, Brian Clough was appointed but he lasted only 44 days in the job.

European Cup Finalists

Jimmy Armfield replaced him and took the club to the European Cup Final in 1975.

For the rest of the decade Leeds remained a strong side without challenging for the major honours.

In 1982 they were relegated, and spent eight years in Division Two before promotion, as champions, in 1990.

League Champions Again

Two seasons later, in the last season before the Premier League, Leeds were crowned League champions for the third time.

Financial Meltdown

Between 1997 and 2002 Leeds never finished lower than fifth in the Premiership, but the club had acquired huge debts under Peter Ridsdale and when they failed to qualify for the Champions League the club went into financial meltdown.

Their star players had to be sold off and as a result, Leeds were relegated in 2004.

Ken Bates Buys the Club

In 2005, Ken Bates, controversial one-time owner of Chelsea, bought Leeds United Football Club.

Relegation to League One

At the end of the 2006-07 season, Leeds United were relegated to League One (the third tier) for the first time in their history.

In an attempt to clear their debts, the club went into administration just before the end of the season and after much wrangling Bates was allowed to buy the club back from the administrators before the start on the 2007-08 season.

Fifteen Point Penalty

Leeds began their first season in the third tier with a 15 point penalty imposed by the Football League Board.

The club then endured a traumatic season during which both manager, Dennis Wise, and his assistant, Gus Poyet, quit.

Despite this, and the points deduction, they managed to make the play-off final, where they lost 1-0 to Doncaster Rovers.

Leeds qualified for the play-offs again in 2009, but were again eliminated, this time by Millwall.

A year later they finally secured promotion back to the Championship via a second place finish.

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