Leeds United's predecessor club, Leeds City F.C., was formed in 1904 by the committee and supporters. It was forcibly disbanded by The Football League in 1919 in response to allegations of financial irregularities regarding illegal payments to players during the First World War.

Shortly after the collapse of , a new club, Leeds United, was formed and, shortly afterwards, began playing in the Midland League, taking the place vacated by Leeds City's reserve team. , who now occupied Elland Road, offered to make way for the new team under the management of former player Dick Ray. In 1920, Leeds were acquired by 's then chairman, Hilton Crowther. Crowther also brought in a new manager, Arthur Fairclough, from .

Leeds' first fixture after their election was ironically against , the club who had taken up 's fixtures the previous season after their expulsion. Leeds lost the match 2-0, however Leeds first victory was the corresponding fixture at Elland Road only seven days later finishing Leeds United 3-1 Port Vale. Over the following few years, Leeds consolidated their position in the Second Division and in 1924 won the Second Division title with 54 points. However, they failed to establish themselves in the first division and were relegated in 1927. The following years up until the start of World War II Leeds were twice relegated and instantly re-promoted the following season. The first official season after World War II Leeds were relegated with the worst league record in their history. Leeds stayed in the Second Division for a further nine seasons until 1955-56, when Leeds once again won promotion to the First Division. John Charles was great in the First Division and in the first season after promotion Charles scored 39 goals, which still remains a club record. Disaster struck however when the west stand at Elland Road was destroyed by fire at the end of the 1956-57 season. This forced the club to sell Charles to for £65,000 to help pay the re-construction costs. The sale was very detrimental to Leeds' performances on the pitch and they once again went into decline, eventually being relegated to the Second Division three seasons later in 1960.



In March 1961 the club's directors appointed former England centre forward, and current player, Don Revie as player-manager. It was under Revie that Leeds enjoyed their most successful period, and during which they became probably the leading English football club. Revie's stewardship started in some difficulty; the club was in some financial difficulty and in the 1961-62 season only a win in the final game of the season saved the club from relegation to Division 3.In 1964 this new team won promotion once more to Division 1. While recognised as one of the finest post-war British teams, Leeds also developed a reputation for underachievement. Under Revie Leeds won promotion to Division 1 in the 1963-64 season; two league championships, 1968-69 (losing only two games) and 1973-74, when the team went an incredible 34 games undefeated; the League Cup in 1968; the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1968 and 1971; the FA Cup in 1972; and FA Charity Shield in 1969. Revie's last season at Elland Road was in 1974 and he left Leeds to take up the role of managing the English national team.

Brian Clough was appointed as Don's successor which to many was a big supprise. The team ,and its supporters, openly disliked Clough, and after only 44 days Clough was dismissed He was replaced by former England captain Jimmy Armfield, who took Revie's team to the final of the European Cup, where they were defeated by Bayern Munich. Armfield (with noted coach Don Howe) rebuilt Revie's team, and though it no longer dominated English football, it remained in the top six for subsequent seasons. However, the board was impatient for success and dismissed Armfield, replacing him with another managerial legend, Jock Stein. Unfortunately, Stein remained in the role for only a short period of time , leaving after 44 days to take up an invitation to manage the Scottish national team. The board turned to Jimmy Adamson, a long-time manager at . At this point the decline shifted a gear. In 1980 Adamson was in turn fired, and replaced by former Leeds and England star Allan Clarke. Clarke, despite spending freely on players, was unable to stem the tide and the club was relegated at the end of the 1981-82 season. Clarke was in his turn replaced by former team-mate Eddie Gray.

Gray's concentration on youth development turned round Leeds' precarious financial situation, without winning them promotion from the second division. Most Leeds supporters would give Gray the benefit of the doubt during this period as he had no money to spend on team building, and those players he developed were often sold off as well. However the board again became impatient and sacked him in 1985, replacing him with another former Revie star, former Leeds and Scotland captain Billy Bremner. Bremner carried on where Gray had left off, but found it just as difficult to achieve promotion, though he did bring the club close to success. Under Bremner, the club were defeated 2-1 in the 1987 play-off final, after extra time, against , and in the same year, were beaten 3-2, after extra-time, in the FA Cup semi-final losing to .



In October 1988, with the team standing at 21st position in Division 2, Bremner was fired to make way for Howard Wilkinson. The following season Leeds finally won promotion back to the first division, after an absence of eight years. Wilkinson continued to rebuild the team and the club finished its first season back in the first division in fourth place. In 1992 Leeds won the final old First Division championship (1991-92). They also won the Charity Shield 4-3 against Liverpool in 1992. The following season was a poor one, with Leeds finishing 17th in the League (three places above relegation). Wilkinson's position with the board had become more precarious with the sale of the club in 1992 to a new consortium, and wasn't helped by a chronic, negative display in the 1996 League Cup final which saw star striker Tomas Brolin, left on the bench and win 3-0. Leeds only finished 13th in 1995-96, and early in the 1996-97 season, after a particularly painful Cantona-inspired 4-0 home defeat by Manchester United, Wilkinson had his contract terminated.

Leeds controversially appointed George Graham. At the start of the season, Graham brought in some bargain buys and introduced Australian youngster Harry Kewell from the youth team. At the end of the season Leeds booked its place in the UEFA Cup for the next season. The 1998-99 season saw Graham move to become manager of the north London club Tottenham Hotspur. Leeds opted for David O'Leary, George Graham's assistant manager. Under O'Leary the glory days seemed likely to return. On the pitch he let his team do the talking. He introduced promising youngsters like Jonathan Woodgate, and Alan Smith The fans and pundits saw a new vigorous and dynamic Leeds United side. Leeds youngsters played fast-paced, attacking football under the coaching of Eddie Gray. They secured 3rd place in the league that season sending the club into the UEFA Champions League for the first time. However, Leeds image was tarnished when players Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer were involved in an incident in Leeds City Centre outside the Majestyk nightclub, which left an Asian student in hospital with severe injuries. It took nearly two years to resolve as the start-stop court case came to a close. Bowyer was cleared and Woodgate convicted of affray and sentenced to community service.

Leeds reached their first European semi-final in 25 years and were paired against Turkish champions Galatasaray, notorious for their fanatical support. Another dark moment in Leeds’ history was around the corner when two Leeds United fans, Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight, were brutally stabbed to death before the game in Istanbul••. Leeds lost 2-0. The return leg in Leeds had the most charged, emotional yet poisonous atmosphere. The game saw Harry Kewell sent off and a 2-2 score was not enough for Leeds, as they went out of the competition. A minute's silence• is held every year at the match closest to the anniversary of the incident to remember Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight.



Following their appearance in the UEFA Champions League semi-final against Valencia Leeds' fortunes started to change. Although the general public were unaware, the club under the leadership of Peter Ridsdale had taken out loans worth extremely large sums of money against future gates reciepts, and along with the team not performing as the loans required, Leeds slipped further and further into debt. The first signs to the fans was the sale of Rio Ferdinand to Leeds' hated rivals for a sum of approximately £30m. David O'Leary was then sacked and replaced by former England manager Terry Venables. Under Venables, the team didn't perform that well and many of Leeds' stars were sold including Jonathan Woodgate whom Ridsdale had promised Venables would not be sold. Tensions mounted between the pair, eventually resulting in the sacking of Venables, who was replaced by Peter Reid. Reid finally saved Leeds with a 3-2 win away to Arsenal in the penultimate game of the season During this time the now hated Peter Ridsdale resigned from the Leeds board and was replaced by Professor John McKenzie. Unfortunately more star players left for financially questionable fees. An unsuccessful start to the 2003-04 season saw Peter Reid dismissed, and fans' hero and former manager, Eddie Gray, took over as caretaker manager until the end of the season.

Gray continued the trend of recent years in rebuilding with young players with finances severely limiting anything the club could do in the transfer maket. Leeds were now in £121m of debt. This was also a serious concern for the players. The team continued to struggle on the field and were eventually relegated after 14 years in the top flight. Following confirmation of the club's relegation, Gray's reign as caretaker manager was terminated. Kevin Blackwell was appointed manager. Most of Leeds' remaining stars were sold or released on free transfers to simply ease the pressure on finances with even teenage starlet James Milner leaving the club. Leeds were eventually forced to sell both their training ground, for £4.2m, and their Elland Road stadium in the autumn of 2004.

The club finally managed to start a turn around however on 21 January 2005 when Leeds Chairman Gerald Krasner announced the sale of a 50% stake to Ken Bates for £10m, with Bates becoming the club's new Chairman. Leeds stabalised signing players on free-transfers and low wages and ended the 2004-05 season midtable. With six new players brought in over the summer, the club's goal during the 2005-06 season was promotion. At the beginning of March, Kevin Blackwell signed an extension to his contract, which was to keep him at Leeds United for another three years. Leeds finished the season inside the play-off zone and made the playoff final, to be played against . They lost 3-0 in this final. On 10 September 2006, Kevin Blackwell announced that within a year the club would be debt free. The 2006-07 season however started badly and on 20 September 2006 Kevin Blackwell's contract as manager of Leeds United was terminated. Dennis Wise was eventually installed as manager after a month without a permanent manager.