Vital Statistics
Founded: 1919
Chairman: Ken Bates
Last Season: Championship - 7th
Nicknames: The Whites, United, The Peacocks
Rivals: Manchester United, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Chelsea
Major Honours
League Champions: 1969, 1974, 1992
FA Cup: 1972
League Cup: 1968
Fairs' Cup/UEFA Cup: 1968, 1971
Scheduled Matches
Leeds vs Portsmouth: Saturday, October 1st (3pm)
Portsmouth vs Leeds: Saturday, February 25th (3pm)
Transfers In
Paul Rachubka (Blackpool - Free)
Michael Brown (Portsmouth - Free)
Andy Lonergan (Preston - £200,000)
Mikael Forssell (Hanover 96 - Free)
Mika Vayrynen (Heerenveen - Free)
Darren O'Dea (Celtic - Loan)
Andy Keogh (Wolves - Loan)
Danny Pugh (Stoke - Loan)
Transfers Out
Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester - £1.5 million)
Elliott Kebbie (Barcelona - Free)
Shane Higgs (Released)
Richard Naylor (Doncaster - Free)
James Baxendale (Doncaster - Free)
Neil Kilkenny (Bristol City - Free)
Bradley Johnson (Norwich - Free)
Federico Bassone (Swansea - Free)
Mike Grella (Brentford - Free)
Max Gradel (Saint-Etienne - Undisclosed)
Probable Starting XI
GK: Andy LONERGAN
RB: Paul CONNOLLY
CB: Patrick KISNORBO
CB: Andy O'BRIEN
LB: Ben PARKER
RM: Robert SNODGRASS
CM: Michael BROWN
CM: Andy CLAYTON
CM: Jonny HOWSON
LM: Danny PUGH
CF: Luciano BECCHIO
The Manager: Simon Grayson
After a modest playing career that ended at Blackpool, Grayson joined the Tangerines' coaching staff and had a stint as reserve team manager before becoming caretaker, and then permanent, manager of the first team in 2006.
He took the Bloomfield Road outfit up to the Championship in his first full season in charge and kept them there before deciding to drop down a division to manage Leeds. After a play-off defeat to Millwall, Grayson got United promoted at the second attempt and guided Leeds to 7th last season.
The Fans
Whilst some Leeds fans have a perceived arrogance about them due to their club's superior history, I've had plenty of good football conversations with a fanbase who have also been through hard times of administration and relegation.
It's also nice to remind them that their recent record against us is awful and they simply can't seem to beat us, making Pompey one of Leeds' bogey teams.
A club of Leeds' stature are bound to have many famous fans and ex-England Cricket captain Nasser Hussain, TV presenters Gabby Logan & Jeremy Paxman, Radio DJ Chris Moyles and Spice Girl Mel B are just some of the well-known names associated with the Yorkshire side.
Leeds fan Ben Rowe on the upcoming season:
It was often said that last season would be our 'consolidation' year with us kicking on this time around, but it appears we may have missed the boat. With this club, expectations are always high and we have retained our most important assets (so far), so I would hope we can compete.
However, the distinct lack of ambition shown in the transfer market is worrying, and we're putting a lot of faith into youngsters and players coming back from long-term injuries. I'd be hopeful of top-six if there's any more business to come, and if we stay relatively injury-free. If not, it could be a disappointing bottom-half finish.
The Ground: Elland Road (Capacity: 39,500)
Due to arriving at half-time thanks to Vision Travel, there are currently no photos of the exterior of Elland Road.
The following photos were taken from the South East part of the ground but from this season on away fans will now be situated in part of the John Charles stand (below), complete with wooden seats. Wonderful.
This is the South Stand where you can expect the more mouthy Leeds fans to banter with you.
One of their chants aimed at us last season was "We can see your empty seats" and so we simply pointed to their empty upper tier of the East Stand and returned the song!
This is the Revie stand, named, of course, after the man that led Leeds during their golden era during the days of "Dirty Leeds" and Bremner and co.
