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If you thought financial irregularity is a recent phenomenon and the player auctions are Indian Premier League’s innovation, then get ready to be surprised.
Excluding the ones who have just started to follow English football, fans will surely be familiar with the name ‘Leeds United’. Their fairy-tale story of playing in champions league to the nightmare of financial difficulties and the resulting relegation to the second and later to the third division of English league football is well know. But very few will know why ‘Leeds United’ was formed and the monumental events prior to its formation.
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It all started with what became infamously famous as the ‘Leeds City Scandal’ of 1919.
Leeds United’s predecessor Leeds City FC was formed in August 0f 1904. The club started off by playing against local clubs in the West Yorkshire League and some friendlies with the big clubs of that era. They were absorbed by the English league in the 1905-06 season and started playing in the second division. A stint with regular association league football broke the rugby domination in Leeds as fans flocked to support their new footballing stars.
The challenge of playing the first season along with the associated hype and excitement spurred the team to a surprisingly high 6th position finish at the end of the season. The second season syndrome was evident in the next season, with the club struggling to find the energy and the form of the previous season. They went on to finish in the mid table where they largely remained through-out their existence. Having flirted with relegation in two separate seasons, Leeds City FC narrowly missed promotion in the 1913-14 season when they finished 4th, their highest league finish.
Leeds City’s existence was to be a rather uneventful one, with Billy McLeod’s 171 goals in 289 League appearances being the highlight for the fans. The club remained in the second division through-out its short, nothing out-of-the-ordinary lifetime. But that was not how it was to end. The club grabbed the headlines towards the very end, although for all the wrong reasons.
During the world war, when league football was suspended, Leeds were unexpectedly successful in the unofficial league championship and friendlies. More than 30 ‘guest’ players, including many internationals like Franny Walden and Charlie Buchan, appeared for them. After the dark days of the war, league football’s resumption was largely anticipated. In the first season back, a rejuvenated Leeds City FC, considered favorites for promotion, started along with all the other clubs, but were not to see the season out.
Charlie Copeland, left back, a regular during the war years, fell out with the club over a pay raise. He further went on to make allegations of the club making illegal payments to war time guest players. Although such incidents were not uncommon in the English football fraternity at that time, the FA and the Football League could not ignore the allegations once it was formally brought to their notice.
Another factor which pushed the club into darkness during the same time was the conflict between the chairman Joseph Connor and the manager George Cripps. The chairman simply did not rate Cripps - he maintained that Cripps was mishandling the club’s business affairs and getting things into a mess. Cripps was as disliked by some of the club’s playing staff as he was by Connor.
Once the financial allegations were out in the open, the FA and Football League ordered a joint inquiry to look into the matter. The Commission, including a dozen members of the Football Association and the Football League, as well as members of the international selection committee, summoned the club and asked them to present the club books before the inquiry. Leeds City stunned everyone by replying that they would not disclose the club books. The inquiry patiently gave the club a further 10 days to produce their finances.
Even after the extended deadline, when the club refused to produce their accounts for the the last two seasons, the League had no choice but to expel them. Although there was no concrete evidence as such to back the allegations, Leeds City’s silence, which was interpreted as a move to shield the players in question, was considered as admission of guilt. An FA order formally closed the club.
Although the League regretted the decision, recognising that Leeds were a new club with bright prospects, they regarded the charges of breaking the wartime regulations by paying players more than the permitted rates as extremely serious. A statement by the then League chairman John Mckenna stated “The authorities of the game intend to keep it absolutely clean. We will have no nonsense. The football stable must be cleaned and further breakages of the law regarding payments will be dealt with in such a severe manner that I now give warning that clubs and players must not expect the slightest leniency.”
Players of the disgraced club were auctioned in a bizarre sale, a week after the club were expelled. It was a humiliating experience for the players as they were sold off along with the club’s nets, goal-posts, boots, kit and physiotherapy equipment. The entire squad fetched less than £10,150. The Football League had said the players won’t be made to join a club if they did not wish to, but but with the players anxious to get back into action, went on to play for the respective club they were brought by.
And thus the identity of Leeds City FC, tarnished by allegations of financial irregularities, was banished from the annals of English football. Currently, a men’s senior team plays in the West Yorkshire League with the name Leeds City. Also a female team, Leeds City Vixens, uses the same name. However, neither of these two are considered to be a continuation of the old club.
After the demise of the Leeds City FC in 1919, the rugby rich city of Leeds was left with no football representative. And so, another team was formed quickly and fast tracked into the Football League in 1921. The club was christened ‘Leeds United’.
