page_title: History of Leeds United F.C.
section_title: 1998–2002 David O'Leary: living the dream
hierarchical_section_title: History of Leeds United F.C. / 1998–2002 David O'Leary: living the dream
caption_attribution_description: English: Leeds United's Home Ground Elland Road, seen from the South-west corner
context_page_description: The history of Leeds United Football Club is an article about a professional association football club based in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was established in 1919, following the demise of Leeds City F.C.
  Leeds had their most successful period under the management of Don Revie in the 1960s and 1970s. The club won the English league title twice, the FA Cup once, the League Cup once and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup twice. They were also finalists in the European Cup Winners Cup in 1973 and the European Cup in 1975. Leeds later won another league title in 1991–92 under manager Howard Wilkinson.
context_section_description: The Leeds board wanted Martin O'Neill to take the job; however pressure from Leicester City fans meant O'Neill stayed on as their manager. Leeds opted for David O'Leary, George Graham's assistant manager.
  O'Leary introduced promising youngsters like Jonathan Woodgate, Alan Smith and Stephen McPhail to complement the likes of Harry Kewell and Ian Harte, who were already established in the first team. Leeds finished the 1998–99 season in 4th place, qualifying for the UEFA Cup once again.
  The following 1999–2000 season saw a superb run in the UEFA Cup complemented by good form in the league, with Leeds finishing 3rd place and qualifying for the UEFA Champions League.
  Unfortunately, Leeds' image was tarnished by an incident in January 2000 involving Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer, which left an Asian student in hospital with severe injuries. The trial of Bowyer and Woodgate took nearly two years to resolve before the start-stop court case came to a close (a prejudicial Sunday Mirror article in 2001 caused the original trial to collapse and a re-trial was scheduled several months later). Bowyer was cleared, and Woodgate convicted of affray and sentenced to community service. Bowyer played some of the finest football of his career during the trial and would often drive straight from court to play for Leeds; however, Woodgate's form deteriorated, and he had to sit out games due to pressure.
  In the UEFA Cup Leeds reached their first European semi-final in 25 years, and were paired against Turkish champions Galatasaray. The first leg of the semi-final was played in Istanbul, with Leeds losing the game 2–0. However, the result was overshadowed by the death of two Leeds United fans, Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight, who were stabbed to death in rioting the night before the game. Leeds were only able to draw the return leg at Elland Road and 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.
  The 2000–01 season saw Leeds enjoy a spectacular run in the Champions League, playing the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Lazio and A.C. Milan. They eventually lost in the semi-finals to València. Leeds could only finish in 4th place in the league, narrowly missing on qualification for the Champions League.
  The 2001–02 season saw continued investment; Robbie Fowler and Seth Johnson signed for a combined fee of around £20 million. Leeds began the season brightly, losing just two of their opening 21 matches, and they topped the table on New Year's Day 2002. However, they then failed to win a league match for two months, a run which included a dismal 4–0 home defeat to Liverpool, and were knocked out of the FA Cup by Second Division Cardiff City. Leeds ultimately finished 5th, thus missing out on qualification for the UEFA Champions League. O'Leary was sacked at the end of the season; the reasons given were that despite heavy investment in the squad, Leeds had failed to qualify for the Champions League for two consecutive seasons, and there were also reports that O'Leary had lost the confidence of some of the players. In four seasons as manager, O'Leary had guided Leeds to four consecutive top five finishes and two European semi-finals.
  Although the general public were unaware, chairman Peter Ridsdale had taken out large loans against the prospect of gate receipts from Champions League games. As Leeds had failed to qualify for the competition, there was simply not enough money coming in to repay the debt. The first indication that the club was in financial trouble was the sale of Rio Ferdinand to Manchester United for £30 million, a world record for a defender. O'Leary and Ridsdale publicly fell out over the sale.
caption: Leeds United's home ground, Elland Road
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