Leeds 100: The start of the Leeds United story and how it all began

From pitch invasions and player power to court cases and Spygate, Leeds United’s century-long story has not been without its controversies.
A policeman climbs into the crowd at Elland Road during the game against Everton in September 1966. PIC: YPNA policeman climbs into the crowd at Elland Road during the game against Everton in September 1966. PIC: YPN
A policeman climbs into the crowd at Elland Road during the game against Everton in September 1966. PIC: YPN

So it seems in some strange way appropriate that the club owes its existence to one of the biggest scandals to hit the beautiful game in the period between the two world wars.

For before United, there was Leeds City. Rugby’s popularity meant soccer was a relatively slow starter in Leeds, but City’s admission to Division Two of the Football League in 1905 – a year after taking up residence at Elland Road – changed all that.

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The small matter of the First World War and the suspension of competitive football scuppered that plan in the short term, but by 1919 Chapman and his playing staff were back together and ready to challenge for promotion.

Sadly for City and their fans, the push for the big time never happened. Chapman’s absence from Elland Road during the war – he had been drafted in to help run the Barnbow munitions factory at Cross Gates – left a power vacuum at the club that saw his assistant, George Cripps, repeatedly clashing with chairman Joseph Connor.

It was against this backdrop of in-fighting and bad blood that illegal payments were allegedly made to wartime guest players, with unofficial regional competitions having continued after the professional game was put on hold.

And, in the summer of 1919, former City defender Charlie Copeland – who had left the club in a row over his own wages – blew the whistle on the suspected irregularities.

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The Football Association and Football League launched a joint inquiry and ordered Leeds’s solicitor, Alderman William Clarke, to hand over the club’s books.

The documents failed to materialise and so, in a move that today appears stunning in its speed and ruthlessness, City were permanently disbanded by the authorities after a 4-2 win at Wolves on October 4.

That in turn set the scene for the extraordinary events of October 17, when Leeds’s players were told to report to the city’s Metropole Hotel for what was later criticised as a sale of ‘footballing flesh’.

Stars such as Billy McLeod, John Hampson and George Stephenson were snapped up during an auction at the hotel that attracted representatives from more than 30 First and Second Division clubs.

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A newspaper report of the time described the day as “remarkable”, adding: “It was a sad one, so far as the players were concerned, for every few minutes they were being asked by various club officials to ‘step into the billiard room’ [or] ‘will you have a short stroll with me’ and so on, the club men vying with each other in their persuasive powers.

“It must be said, the proceedings were distasteful to everyone concerned, and met with hearty condemnation.”

The end for Leeds City had been brutal and, for their fans, heartbreaking.

But those same supporters were also determined that professional football would continue in Leeds.

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Just a few hours after the conclusion of the Metropole auction, more than 1,000 of them gathered at Salem Chapel in Hunslet for a meeting where a new club was formed.

Its name was Leeds United and the rest, as they say, is history.

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