Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club play their home matches at Elland Road and compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system.
Leeds United have won the League Championship three times, four Second Division titles, the FA Cup once, the EFL Cup once, the Charity Shield twice and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup twice. The club had their most successful period under the management of Don Revie in the 1960s and 1970s, when they won the League title twice, the FA Cup once, the League Cup once and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup twice. The club have also been runners-up five times in the League Championship, three times in the FA Cup, once each in the EFL Cup, the Charity Shield, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the Cup Winners' Cup and the European Cup, and lost the play-off to keep the Inter-City Fairs Cup trophy.
The club has rivalries with Manchester United and Chelsea. The team's traditional kit colours are white shirts, white shorts and white socks. Their badge features the White Rose of York, which is a symbol of Yorkshire. "Marching on Together" is the club's official anthem and is regularly sung by supporters.
History
Pre-Leeds United
Leeds United's predecessor, Leeds City, was formed in 1904 and elected to League membership in 1905. They drew bigger crowds to Elland Road following Herbert Chapman's arrival. In 1914 Chapman declared; "This city is built to support top-flight football", but Leeds City were forcibly disbanded and forced to sell off all their players by The Football League in 1919 in response to allegations of illegal payments to players during the First World War. At Salem Chapel in 1919, Leeds United was formed, and they received an invitation to enter the Midland League, being voted into it on 31 October, taking the place vacated by Leeds City Reserves. Following Leeds City's disbanding, Yorkshire Amateurs bought their stadium Elland Road. Yorkshire Amateurs offered to make way for the new team under the management of former player Dick Ray.
The chairman of Huddersfield Town, Hilton Crowther loaned Leeds United £, to be repaid when Leeds United won promotion to the First Division. He brought in Barnsley's manager Arthur Fairclough and on 26 February 1920, Dick Ray stepped down to become Fairclough's assistant.
1920–1960
On 31 May 1920, Leeds United were elected to the Football League. Over the following years, they consolidated their position in the Second Division and in the 1923–24 season won the title and with it promotion to the First Division. They failed to establish themselves and were relegated in 1926–27. After their relegation, Fairclough resigned, which paved the way for Ray to return as manager. In the years up until the start of World War II Leeds were twice relegated; on both occasions they were re-promoted the following season.
On 5 March 1935, Ray resigned and was replaced by Billy Hampson, who remained in charge for 12 years. In the 1946–47 season after the war, Leeds were relegated again, with the worst league record in their history. After this season, Hampson resigned (he stayed with Leeds as their chief scout for eight months) and was replaced in April 1947 by Willis Edwards. In 1948, Sam Bolton replaced Ernest Pullan as the chairman of Leeds United. Edwards was moved to assistant manager in April 1948 after just one year as manager. He was replaced by Frank Buckley.
Leeds remained in the Second Division until 1955–56, when they once again won promotion to the First Division, inspired by John Charles. Charles was hungry for success at the highest level, and manager Raich Carter was unable to convince him that Leeds could satisfy his ambitions. Charles was sold to Juventus for a then world record of £65,000. The loss of Charles resulted in Leeds being relegated to the Second Division in the 1959–60 season.
1961–1974: Don Revie era
In March 1961, the club appointed former player Don Revie as manager, following the resignation of Jack Taylor. His stewardship began in adverse circumstances; the club was "in financial difficulty" and in 1961–62 only a win in the final game of the season saved the club from relegation to the Third Division. Revie implemented a youth policy and a change of kit colour to an all-white strip in the style of Real Madrid, and Leeds won promotion to the First Division in 1963–64.