Leeds City F.C.

Last updated

Leeds City
Leeds old arms.png
The badge of Leeds City, also the coat of arms of Leeds before 1924
Full nameLeeds City Football Club
Nickname(s)The Peacocks
The Citizens
City
Founded1904
Dissolved1919
Ground Elland Road, Leeds

Leeds City Football Club was the leading professional club in Leeds, England, before the First World War. The club was highly successful in the wartime football league; however, it faced sanction for paying its players during wartime which had been made illegal. The club was dissolved in 1919 after the club's directors failed to co-operate with the subsequent FA inquiry. In 1919 Leeds United was established as a replacement.

Contents

History

The club was established in 1904, taking the coat of arms of Leeds as the club badge [1] and adopting blue, yellow and white as the club's colours. [2] They were elected to the Football League in 1905. The original secretary, a role that then also carried the modern responsibilities of manager and coach, was Gilbert Gillies (1904–1908) who was followed by Frank Scott-Walford before in 1912, they appointed Herbert Chapman who guided the club to their highest position in the league (4th in the Second Division).

Leeds City's whole league career was in the Second Division. However, during the First World War the club won several wartime honours under the stewardship of Herbert Chapman. Following the conclusion of the war a scandal ensued and the club was accused of financial irregularities, including breaking the ban on paying players during the war, that led to the club's dissolution in 1919. They were expelled from The Football League eight games into the 1919–20 season. The harsh punishment was handed down mostly because of the behaviour of the club's directors, who refused to co-operate in an FA inquiry, and refused to hand over the club's financial records. [3]

Port Vale took over their remaining fixtures (as well as their results up to that point). [4] Leeds City were the first club to be expelled from the League mid-season, and one of only two to be expelled from the League due to financial irregularities, with Bury expelled a century later in 2019. Ironically, Leeds City's successors, Port Vale, nearly lost their League status for similar reasons in 1968, although they ultimately managed to retain it in an end-of-season vote among the other clubs. On 17 October 1919, an auction was held at the Metropole Hotel in Leeds, where the playing staff was auctioned off along with other assets of the club. The 16 members of the playing squad were bought by nine clubs for a total of £9,250: [5]

PlayerDestinationBid
Billy McLeod Notts County £1,250
Harry Millership Rotherham County £1,000
John Hampson Aston Villa £1,000
Willis Walker South Shields £800
Tommy Lamph Manchester City £800
James Edmondson Sheffield Wednesday £800
Bill Hopkins South Shields£600
George Affleck Grimsby Town £500
Ernest Goodwin Manchester City£500
Billy Kirton Aston Villa£500
William Ashurst Lincoln City £500
Fred Linfoot Lincoln City£250
Herbert Lounds Rotherham County£250
Arthur Wainwright Grimsby Town£200
Billy Short Hartlepools United £200
Frank Chipperfield Lincoln City£100

In the wake of its demise, Leeds United was formed, and entered the Football League the following year. None of the players auctioned ever played for the new Leeds United, but winger Ivan Sharpe, who had scored 17 goals in 65 appearances for City between 1913 and 1915, spent 2½ years at United between 1920 and 1923 only making one appearance and right-half Harry Sherwin, who left City just five months before its dissolution, went on to score twice in 107 games for United between 1921 and 1925.

See also: Category:Leeds City F.C. players

Subsequent clubs

A second Leeds City was established in 1924 as an amateur club and joined the Yorkshire League. [6] That club folded after leaving the league at the end of the 1926–27 season.

Another Leeds City was formed in 2006 and joined Division Two of the West Yorkshire League. [7] They were Division Two runners-up in their first season, earning promotion to Division One. The following season saw them finish as runners-up in Division One, resulting in promotion to the Premier Division. [7]

Honours

War-time

Ground

Having originally played at the Wellington Ground, the club moved into Elland Road after Holbeck Rugby Club folded in October 1904. [11] In their first season in the Football League their average attendance was 10,025, the third highest in the Second Division. [12] Their best season, 1913–14, saw them average 15,845. [13]

Related Research Articles

1919 in sports describes the year's events in world sport. Although World War I had ended in 1918, the influenza pandemic and planning difficulties from the war still curtailed sport to a considerable extent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Brown (footballer, born 1977)</span> English footballer, manager, and pundit

Michael Robert Brown is an English former professional footballer and football manager who now works as a pundit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harrogate Town A.F.C.</span> Association football club in Harrogate, England

Harrogate Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, which competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system.

This was a Scottish non-league football (soccer) competition that ran at various times between 1891 and 1946.

The 1967–68 season was the 88th season of competitive football in England. Defending First Division champions, Manchester United, became the first English team to win the European Cup, while the First Division title went to their cross city rivals City. West Bromwich Albion lifted the FA Cup this season, for the fifth time in their history. Leeds United won their first two major trophies when they lifted the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and Football League Cup at the expense of an Arsenal side who had not played at Wembley for 16 years.

The 1919–1920 season was the 45th season of competitive football in England, and the first following the end of World War I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Paynter</span> English former association football player

William Paul Paynter is an English football manager and former player who is the manager of Northern Premier League Division One West club Runcorn Linnets. In a 17-year professional career in the English Football League he played as a striker and scored 131 goals in 529 league and cup appearances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leeds United F.C.</span> Association football club in Leeds, England

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 level of the English football league system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Ray</span> English footballer and manager

Richard Ray was an English professional footballer and manager.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English Football League</span> League competition featuring professional association football clubs from England

The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from its foundation until 1992, when the top 22 clubs split from it to form the Premier League. The Football League was rebranded as the "English Football League" (EFL) from the 2016–17 season.

The city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, has several Football Clubs within its boundaries. Due to the popularity of rugby league almost all association football clubs in the city have the suffix "A.F.C." instead of the more prevalent "F.C." used in most of England, such as Leeds Woodville A.F.C. who were one of the earliest Victorian teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leeds United F.C.–Manchester United F.C. rivalry</span> Football rivalry

The rivalry between Leeds United and Manchester United, sometimes nicknamed the Roses rivalry, is a footballing rivalry played between the Northern English clubs Leeds United and Manchester United. The rivalry originates from the strong rivalry between the historic counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire, which is popularly believed to have its origins in the Wars of the Roses of the 15th century. Although the cities of Leeds and Manchester lie over 40 miles (64 km) apart, the tradition is upheld and this strong feeling can still be seen between the two clubs. Independent research by the Football Fans Census has shown that, within English football, both Leeds and Manchester United are ranked within the top three clubs based on the number of clubs that consider them to be their rivals.

The 1919–20 season was the 28th season of The Football League, and the first season after football was suspended after outbreak of World War I

William Arthur Cope was an English footballer who played as a full-back. He played 287 league games in the Football League over a nineteen-year professional career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1919–20 Port Vale F.C. season</span> Port Vale 1919–20 football season

The 1919–20 season was Port Vale's first season of football back in the English Football League. It was their first Football League season at The Old Recreation Ground, and their first season in which they were in the same division as rivals Stoke. The club were also referred to as "the Valiants" for the first time, a nickname coined by chairman Frank Huntbach.

The 1967–68 season was Port Vale's 56th season of football in the English Football League, and their third-successive season in the Fourth Division. A poor season saw them battle to mid-table in order to avoid the re-election zone. Yet it would be off-the-field developments that would worry Vale supporters the most. An FA/Football League Joint-Inquiry investigated the club as club officials were forced to admit several breaches of the rules in regard to payment of players. The result was expulsion from the League, however, before the start of the following season a vote of 39 to 9 allowed the club to be immediately readmitted to the competition. The whole saga was rather ironic, as the club re-entered the League in 1919 after Leeds City were expelled over illegal payments to their players. On the playing front it was the final season of both Harry Poole and Terry Miles' careers.

The Midland Football League was a semi-professional football league in England. It acted as a feeder league to the Football League for many years before merging with the Yorkshire League in 1982 to form the Northern Counties East League.

Ryan David Edmondson is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for A-League Men club Central Coast Mariners.

References

  1. ↑ "1905–06, Where it all began..." Dave Tomlinson. Mighty Leeds. Retrieved 13 October 2006.
  2. ↑ "Leeds City". Dave Moor. Historical Kits. August 2006. Retrieved 13 October 2006.
  3. ↑ What If There Had Been No Port in the Vale?: Startling Port Vale Stories!, Witan Books ISBN   978-0-9529152-8-7
  4. ↑ Butler, Bryon (1998). 100 Seasons of League Football. England: Queen Anne Press. p. 392. ISBN   1852915951.
  5. ↑ "Review of 1919–20 – Disaster strikes". Dave. MightyLeeds.co.uk. Retrieved 16 November 2006.
  6. ↑ Yorkshire League 1920–1953 Non-League Matters
  7. 1 2 West Yorkshire League 1999–2012 Non-League Matters
  8. ↑ "1915–16 Season Final Tables". EFL Tables. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  9. ↑ "1916–17 Season Final Tables". EFL Tables. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  10. 1 2 "1917–18 Season Final Tables". EFL Tables. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  11. ↑ Jarred, Martin; MacDonald, Malcolm (1986). Leeds United : a complete record 1919-1986. Derby: Breedon Books Sport. p. 182. ISBN   0-907969-17-8. OCLC   14977257.
  12. ↑ 1905–1906 European Football Statistics
  13. ↑ 1913–1914 European Football Statistics
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.