The Rise, Fall, Decline and Demise of Leeds United

As Leeds United contemplate life in the First Division (the old third Division) next season, news that the son of their former manager, Don Revie, is attempting to form a consortium to take over the club will give some hope to the loyal supporters. Duncan Revie, a successful businessman, has been in negotiations to raise the funds necessary to buy Leeds from Ken Bates, the current owner and Chairman. His aim is to return Leeds United to the Premiership and bring back the success that it enjoyed during his father’s time as manager at Elland Road.

It was in the mid-60s that Leeds United under manager Don Revie became a force in English and European football. Before that they had spent much of their history in the Second Division, with only occasional spells in the top flight. It was in 1963-64 that they won promotion and made an immediate impact on the First Division. For the next decade they were a force to be reckoned with.

They finished second on two consecutive seasons and were FA Cup finalists in 1965 and League Cup winners the year before they finally became Champions in 1968-69. Success was also achieved in Europe - in the old Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (UEFA Cup) they were semi-finalists, finalists and winners over three successive seasons and in the European Cup they reached the semi-finals. A powerful force in Europe, they won the Fairs Cup again in 1971.

Over ten seasons they never finished lower than fourth in theFirst Division – being runners-up on three consecutive seasons and then won the trophy for a second time in 1973-74 and reaching the European Cup final the next year. The success that the club achieved in that period made them the envy of every club in England. They mightn’t have been everyone’s favourite team, but they were successful.

Don Revie had developed a team of disciplined players who grew together into the great team that became able to play fast, fluent football in the late-60s and early 70s. They were professional in everything they did and Revie was a great organiser and missed no detail in his preparations. They had magnificent players, Billy Bremner, Johnny Giles, Jack Charlton, Allan Clarke, Eddie Gray, Peter Lorimer and others who produced some fantastic times for Leeds United over that period.

Don Revie left the club in 1974 to become manager of England and his immediate successor was Brian Clough, an unusual choice as he had been so critical of Revie and Leeds. Forty days on and he was gone with Jimmy Armfield taking over and leading them to the European Cup Final.

The team of the Revie era were growing old together and the gradual break up of that squad saw Leeds slip into decline and the loss of their former glory over a number of years until relegation caught up with them in 1982.

After eight seasons in the Second Division they won promotion as Champions and two years later under Howard Wilkinson they won the First Division title for the third time in their history. This was the last season before the introduction of the Premier League and although they retained their status until 2004, they were never the dominant force they had been in the previous era. Their one flirtation with success came when David O’Leary became manager in 1998. Introducing promising young players, Leeds never finished outside the top four and in 2001 they reached the Champions League semi-final. It was looking good for Leeds but defeat to Valencia was followed by a decline in fortunes at home and they were relegated three years later.

Their problems centred around the way the club had over-stretched itself financially in search of success. Having failed to reach the Champions League they couldn’t manage their massive debts and players were gradually sold off to ease the problem. Losing top class players led to the inevitable decline in form and results. Many former Leeds players are playing successfully around the Premiership at this time – Rio Ferdinand, Mark Viduka, Robbie Keane, Jonathan Woodgate, Paul Robinson, Lee Bowyer and Aaron Lennon all had to be sold to avert the crisis at the club. Often the players were sold at cut-price rates to get them off the payroll or transferred with Leeds continuing to pay a proportion of their massive salaries.

Relegation, change of managers, change of Chairman, change of ownership – all have been tried but to no avail. Today Leeds’ misery was complete – defeat at Derby County and relegation to League One which had been assured a few days ago with the club accepting their fate and going into administration only to be bought back by owner and Chairman, Ken Bates, later that day.

How the mighty Leeds United club have fallen. Nottingham Forest, twice winners of the European Cup under Brian Clough, suffered the same fall from grace a couple of season ago and in their first steps of recovery may be passing Leeds on their way back into the Championship. Forest have achieved a place in the play-offs and within the next few weeks will know if they are on the way back to better times.

Leeds United having gone into administration to try to ease their financial difficulties and to avoid a ten points deduction at the start of the new season, will have to wait a little longer before they can contemplate a move back towards the success they achieved in their golden age under Don Revie but with his son at the club, the dream might just become a reality.

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