May 4 – The Dream is Well and Truly Over

WE’VE heard the stories of Leeds United’s extravagant early 2000s pursuit of ‘the dream’ far too many times, whether it’s Seth Johnson’s wage negations or Peter Ridsdale’s goldfish fetish, but it wasn’t until today in 2007 that it all finally caught up with the club, as they entered administration.

When Publicity Pete left Elland Road in March 2003 the club was in an estimated debt of £103m and sinking down the table faster then one of Peter Lormier’s 30-yarders.

Ridsdale’s replacement was economics expert Professor John McKenzie, who lasted a few months before insolvency specialist Gerald Kranser took charge, overseeing relegation from the Premier League, the departure of almost every first-team player and the sale of Elland Road and their Thorp Arch training ground.

Sensing his work was done, Kranser sold up to Ken Bates in 2004. A play-off final loss in 2006 followed and when manager Kevin Blackwell told the press that the club would be debt-free within a year, it looked as though life might be getting slightly easier for the Leeds fans.

Not so. A week later Blackwell was sacked and Bates brought in his old mucka Dennis Wise. The number of anti-Chelsea songs at Elland Road multiplied at quite a rate, as the fans failed to take to their former Stamford Bridge duo. The fact that Wise could do nothing to get Leeds out of the relegation zone didn’t help either.

By the end of the season it became obvious that Leeds would be relegated to the third-flight for the first time in their history, but this gave Bates a cunning plan. By placing Leeds into administration before the end of the season, he looked to clear the approximate £35m debt when the mandatory 10-point penalty would have no impact on the teams’ standing on the field.

Bates said: “The action taken brings to an end the financial legacy left by others that we have spent millions of pounds trying to settle.”

However, many Leeds fans queried the timing of the announcement. The club had recently brought in over £4m from the transfers of Rob Hulse, Ian Bennett and Matt Kilgallon to Sheffield United and also received a rumoured £5m in an out-of-court settlement after Chelsea poached two Academy starlets, Michael Woods and Tom Taiwo.

Batesy’s plan, however didn’t go all his own way, as Leeds being Leeds, nothing is ever that simple. He launched his bid to buy back the club which was accepted by administrators KPMG, but needed the Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) to be cleared by the clubs creditors in order to gain full control of the club.

Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs refused to play ball though, which meant that Leeds were still in administration days before the 2007/08 season was about to start and under league rules, they would have been prevented from taking their place in the league.

After all kinds of Football League meetings, complicated lawyer business and endless debate Leeds were eventually allowed to take their place in League 1, but were docked an unprecedented 15 points, making it a total of 25 that they had been stripped of over the summer.

Leeds United are always at their best when up against it, and went on a barnstorming run at the start of the season, wiping the deficit with five wins on the trot as they made it all the way to the play-off final where they lost to Doncaster Rovers.

The curious case of Leeds and the minus 15 points has had a sizable impact on the Football League, with Luton, Bournemouth and Rotherham all being handed hefty deductions the following season, and the likes of Darlington, Stockport and Southampton all worrying about how many points they may have to make up at the start of next season, as the years of football clubs living beyond their means draws to a messy close.

See how Leeds went about wiping out their 15 points below and for today’s other story click here.