Page 12 - We Are Going Up: YEP LUFC Premier League Promotion Special

12 I YORKSHIREEVENINGPOST www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk Monday.July20.2020
WE ARE GOING UP: LUFC SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT
2003-04: WHERE THE HURT BEGAN
FOURTEEN YEARS of top­
flight football came to a
crashing end when Leeds
were effectively relegated
following the 4-1 loss at
Bolton Wanderers
on Sunday, May 2,
2004, in which
Mark Viduka
gave United
the lead from
the penalty
spot before being
sent off for a second
booking six minutes later.
United had been dicing
with danger the previous
season though eventually
finished 15th under Peter Reid
after ending with back-to-
back victories including the
memorable 3-2 triumph at
Arsenal in which Viduka
bagged a late winner.
But not even
Viduka or club
legend Eddie Gray
who replaced the
sacked Reid in
November could
prevent the drop.
Leeds finished
second-bottom, six points
from safety and relegated
along with Leicester City and
Wolves.
2004-05: FIRE SALE, KEN BATES AND
LIFE IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP
UNITED’S FINANCIAL position
meant big-name departures
were inevitable following
the club’s relegation to the
Championship.
Alan Smith was
sold to Manchester
United for
£6m with
Mark Viduka
heading to
Middlesbrough
for £4.5m and
bright young thing
James Milner going to
Newcastle United for £3.5m.
David Batty had also retired
and a whole host of other big
names left from Dorn Matteo
to Ian Harte to Danny Mills to
Michael Bridges.
Kevin Blackwell, coach
under Peter Reid and
Eddie Gray, was
handed the
managerial reins
and there was
a major change
at the top in
January as Ken
Bates completed his
£10m takeover and
succeeded Gerald Krasner
as chairman. That staved off
any threat of administration
as Leeds finished 14th.
From Marcelo Bielsa signing up for a second season at Elland Road to Eddie
Nketiah's crucial late winner against Brentford, Lee Sobot picks out his first
six key moments from the last 12 months which ultimately helped Leeds United
secure promotion back to the Premier League.
EXERCISING THE OPTION TO EXTEND MARCELO BIELSA’S
RECRUITING ILLAN
MESLIER
LEEDS FOLLOWED the loan
moves for Jack Harrison
and Ben White by selling
winger Jack Clarke to
Tottenham Hotspur the
following day before
reloaning him and then
making the big money move
for Wolves
winger
Helder
Costa.
Costa also
joined on a
season-long
loan deal but with
United set to make the move
permanent the following
summer in a deal worth
around £15m.
Clarke could never really
get a look-in but after a
fairly quiet beginning Costa
began to find his feet with
the winger particularly
effective after lockdown.
But given what was to
happen with Kiko Casilla,
the recruitment of French
under-19s keeper Meslier
on a season-long loan
from FC Lorient proved an
essential piece of business
with Bailey Peacock-Farrell
moving to Burnley.
Leeds signed striker
Eddie Nketiah on a season
long-loan from Arsenal
the same day but while
Nketiah was recalled in
January, Meslier’s crucial
contributions would come
in the second half of the
season with Casilla banned
for eight games due to
alleged remarks of a racist
nature in September's loss
2005-06: SO NEAR YET SO FAR WITH
PLAY-OFF FINAL LOSS
IN KEN Bates’first full
season as chairman, boss
Blackwell tried to keep a lid on
expectations whilst targeting
steady progress
from United’s first
season back in the
Championship.
Come the
final Sunday of
May 2006, the
Whites were
just one win away
from regaining their
top-flight statusjust two
years after going down.
There was more upheaval
from a playing staff point of
view with club legend Lucas
Radebe retiring and Aaron
Lennon and Seth Johnson
among the departures. But
with the likes of Rob
Hulse, Robbie Blake
and Eddie Lewis
signing, Bates and
Blackwell built
a side capable
of challenging
that finished fifth.
Leeds overcame
Preston North End in
the play-off semi-finals but the
season ended in tears through
a 3-0 loss to Watford in the
play-off final.
MARCELO BIELSA’S free-
flowing football looked
destined to take Leeds United
back to the Premier League at
the first time of asking as head
coach only for the Whites to
fall out of the Championship’s
automatic promotion places in
the final month of last season.
Failure to secure automatic
promotion hurt but not as
much as the defeat to Derby
County in the play-offs semi­
finals, especially after taking a
1-0 advantage into the second
leg at Elland Road after a first
leg triumph at Pride Park.
Bielsa took the Whites head
coach role in June 2018 by
signing a two-year deal with
the club maintaining the
right to extend or
terminate the deal
at the end of year
one.
There were
naturally
question marks
hanging over
what would
happen with Leeds
and Bielsa following the
miserable end to the 2018-19
campaign.
But Bielsa met with United’s
board of directors towards
the end of May to express his
intention to continue as Whites
head coach and on May 28,
Leeds announced that
Whites chairman
Andrea Radrizzani
had officially
exercised the
option to extend
Bielsa’s contract
for a second
season.
‘We go again' was
the message on posters
around the city and this time
Leeds were ultimately going
up and definitely not messing
around with the play-offs.
2006-07: DENNIS WISE,
ADMINISTRATION AND THE DROP
PULLING OFF A MASTERSTROKE WITH LOAN SIGNING
BLACKWELL KNEW he
would have to “wheel and
deal” as he approached the
new season with United still
paying wages to former
players and now
without parachute
payments.
Key striker
Rob Hulse was
sold to Sheffield
United for £2.2m
with the arrivals
including midfielder
Kevin Nicholls from Luton
Town for £700,000. But by the
end of September, Blackwell
following United’s poor
start and after five games in
charge for John Carver, Bates
appointed Dennis Wise as
Blackwell’s successor,
Wise arriving from
Swindon Town
with assistant Gus
Poyet. A dreadful
campaign saw
Leeds plunge to
relegation, ending
the season entering
administration which
incurred a 10-point penalty
which formally confirmed the
drop to the third tier for the
OF BEN WHITE
WITH EXCITEMENT building
after Marcelo Bielsa had
signed up for another year,
attention turned to Leeds
United’s summer recruitment
and the Whites set the
ball rolling on July 1 when
announcing that Jack Harrison
and Ben White had been
acquired on season-long loan
deals.
United’s fans knew all about
Manchester City winger
Harrison who had made 34
Championship starts and
five outings from the bench
during the 2018-19 campaign,
three assists. But for many,
young centre-back White
arrived from Brighton
as something of
an unknown
quantity with
zero experience
of Premier
League or
Championship
football
following
loan spells at
Newport County and
Peterborough United.
Leeds then sold Pontus
Jansson to Brentford and it
and skipper Liam Cooper
would become the new first
choice centre-back pairing
with White tasked with
replacing talisman
defender Jansson.
Yet director of
football Victor
Orta and co
hadpulledoffa
masterstroke in
recruiting White
who has played every
single minute of every
single Leeds league game and
is now one of English football's
most sought after young
found himself sacked
first time ever.
weighing in with four goals and
soon became clear that White
defenders.
at Charlton Athletic.
CONTRACT FOR ANOTHER YEAR