page_title: Leeds United F.C.
section_title: 1920–1960: Early years
hierarchical_section_title: Leeds United F.C. / History summary / 1920–1960: Early years
caption_attribution_description: English: Leeds United A.F.C.'s 1st League Team Français&#160;: Équipe de football Leeds United A.F.C., 1920-1921 Deutsch: Die Mannschaft der ersten Saison von Leeds United 1920/21 Svenska: Leeds United 1920/1921.
context_page_description: Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1919 following the disbanding of Leeds City F.C. by the Football League and took over their Elland Road stadium. They will play in the Premier League, the first tier of English football, following promotion in the 2019–20 season.
  Most of their history has been spent playing in the first tier; their longest continuous spell inside the first tier was a period of 18 years between 1964 and 1982, while their longest period outside of it spanned 16 years between 2004 and 2020. They have won three English league titles, one FA Cup, one League Cup, two Charity/Community Shields and two Inter-Cities Fairs Cups. The club reached the 1975 European Cup Final, losing to Bayern Munich after some controversial refereeing decisions. Leeds reached the semi-finals of the tournament's successor, the Champions League in 2001. The club were also runners-up in the European Cup Winners Cup final in 1973. The majority of the honours were won under the management of Don Revie in the 1960s and 1970s.
  Leeds play in all-white kits at home matches.
context_section_description: On 31 May 1920, Leeds United were elected to the Football League. Over the following few years, they consolidated their position in the Second Division and in 1924 won the title and with it promotion to the First Division. They failed to establish themselves and were relegated in 1926–27. After their relegation, Fairclough resigned, which paved the way for Ray to return as manager. In the years up until the start of World War II Leeds were twice relegated; on both occasions they were re-promoted the following season.
  On 5 March 1935, Ray resigned and was replaced by Billy Hampson, who remained in charge for 12 years. In the 1946–47 season after the war, Leeds were relegated again, with the worst league record in their history. After this season, Hampson resigned (he stayed with Leeds as their chief scout for eight months) and was replaced in April 1947 by Willis Edwards. In 1948, Sam Bolton replaced Ernest Pullan as the chairman of Leeds United. Edwards was moved to assistant manager in April 1948 after just one year as manager. He was replaced by Major Frank Buckley.
  Leeds remained in the Second Division until 1955–56, when they once again won promotion to the First Division, inspired by John Charles. Charles was hungry for success at the highest level, and manager Raich Carter was unable to convince him that Leeds could satisfy his ambitions. Charles was sold to Juventus for a then world record of £65,000. The loss of Charles resulted in Leeds being relegated to the Second Division in the 1959–60 season.
caption: The first Leeds United team at the start of the 1920–21 season
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