Leeds United secured their Premier League survival on the final day of the 2021/22 season and will be back in English football’s top flight this year.
Rivals of the Yorkshire club have often branded them “Dirty Leeds” - a nickname that dates back to Don Revie’s side from the 1960s.
Is that moniker unwarranted though? Based on the evidence from last season it would appear not...
Football statistics site Transfermarkt have compiled all the yellow and red cards from the 2021/22 Premier League season into a full disciplinary table and it is not good reading for the Elland Road side.
The site uses a points system where straight red cards award the most followed by red cards as a result of a second yellow and then by yellow cards.
In total, 1274 yellow cards and 42 reds were shown by referees in English football’s top flight last season and Leeds can count themselves responsible for their fair share of those numbers.
Here is how the 2021/22 Premier League disciplinary table looks with the team who have the cleanest record at the top and the dirtiest team on the bottom:
(Where two sides have the same number of points the team with more red cards ranks higher then the team with more straight red cards then, if two sides have identical records, final league position)
Is that moniker unwarranted though? Based on the evidence from last season it would appear not...
