The audit: Leeds United

On-pitch performance

The grumble in September was that Leeds had failed to sign a striker and undermined their survival chances. Unheralded, and on a free transfer, Dominic Calvert-Lewin did little to dispel that fear before the end of November, when he set off on a run of eight goals in nine matches.

Against Manchester United, Calvert-Lewin, still only 28, outshone a £74m No 9, Benjamin Šeško. He is the first Leeds player to score in six consecutive Premier League games. Daniel Farke, meanwhile, has found a settled formula that has given Leeds clear water above the relegation zone. They have lost once in 2026 so far, 4-3 at Newcastle, their only defeat in their past 10 matches, a run that includes seven unbeaten in the league – their best run in the top flight since 2001.

In the core of regulars are Ethan Ampadu, Jayden Bogle, Gabriel Gudmundsson, Joe Rodon, Anton Stach, Pascal Struijk and Ilia Gruev. Stach, Gruev and Ampadu are a strong midfield screen for the Leeds defence, though the new goalkeeper Lucas Perri is unconvincing on the ball.

The American Brenden Aaronson is Farke’s most creative player. He scored against United and twice at Newcastle. He is also a good provider for Calvert-Lewin. A return of 22 points from 21 matches is respectable, given the summer’s transfer churn and their inauspicious start to the league campaign.

Money

Of the three promoted sides, Leeds’ net transfer spend of £92m last ­summer exceeded Burnley’s £57.8m but fell short of Sunderland’s £113m. The top fee was £17.4m for Stach but Calvert-Lewin’s signing on a free was the best piece of business. They spent more than £100m to win last ­season’s Championship with 100 points. Nearly £200m over two cycles is more lavish than many might think studying their squad list.

Delaware-based 49ers Enterprises spent £170m on a full takeover in July 2023, a bargain price given Leeds had just been relegated.

Fan satisfaction

Like many supporters of teams at Leeds’ level (too good for the Championship, but just survivors in the highest echelon), the Elland Road audience is braced for the worst while also passionately hopeful. Recent wins over Chelsea and Crystal Palace and draws with Liverpool (twice) and United have persuaded many that the team are developing a viable identity.

Products & prospects

Seventeen-year-old Harry Gray is the brother of Archie (Spurs) and grandson of Frank, a Don Revie-era legend. Ten goals in his first Under-21 games this season suggest the family firm is still flourishing. He has gone on loan to Rotherham to further his education.

Charlie Crew (19), just returned from a loan at Doncaster, has played twice for Wales’s senior team. Rhys Chadwick and Sam Chambers (both 18) have graduated to Farke’s first-team squad. But annual transfer influxes suggest the academy is some way off the days when it hatched Denis Irwin, James Milner and Jonathan Woodgate.

Ownership

Chairman Paraag Marathe is the face of 49ers Enterprises. He started buying into Leeds in 2018 and has invested too in Rangers, where he said the San Francisco 49ers link would add “global gravitas and awareness”. His biog says he divides his time between “Leeds, Glasgow, and the Bay Area” (San Francisco). His CV is a long list of posts and accomplishments. As chair of USA Cricket he helped establish America’s T20 league. Leeds fans will judge him on whether they stay in the Premier League under Farke. The recent upturn in form has made them more confident in the plan to make Leeds a permanent Premier League force.

Women’s team

Going well in National League Division One North, a tier below the Northern Premier, Leeds women are a case study in the battle for recognition.

In 2005, the club stopped funding for the women’s team and denied them the use of the Thorp Arch training ground a year later. Exiled, they survived on sponsorships and reached two FA Cup finals in 2006 and 2008, when they changed their name to Leeds Carnegie Ladies to avoid a legal threat from Elland Road to drop the “United” in their name. They were finally readmitted to the men’s club in 2017 and now play at the Bannister Prentice Stadium in Garforth (3,000).

The men’s matchday programme last Sunday carried an old-fashioned match report and a few manager quotes. Surely the US ownership can’t settle for such a profile imbalance.

History

A club who exult in their past, Leeds go out of their way to honour greats from the Revie era, Howard Wilkinson’s league champions (1991-92) and Marcelo Bielsa’s Championship-winning side of 2019-20.

Tributes abounded to Terry Yorath, who died on 7 January aged 75. Yorath won the First Division title in Revie’s 1974 side and was the first Welshman to play in a European Cup final.

They have three league titles, one FA and League Cup, and a European Cup runners-up medal from 1975. The yo-yoing between the top two divisions now needs to end.

Stadium/training facilities

Built in 1897, Elland Road has been left behind by other Premier League arenas and has poor public transport links. Marathe oversaw the 49ers’ transition from Candlestick Park to Levi’s Stadium. Leeds need their own stadium transformation, and the city council have approved a redevelopment plan that would raise the capacity to 53,000.

The current ground does, however, retain the feel of a shrine. On Howard’s Way and Bielsa’s Place, fans leave their own permanent mark by buying “legacy stones”. A regular one on the floor of Bielsa’s Place costs £75.

The training ground near Wetherby was conceived by Wilkinson. Bielsa once complained about its light switches being “off centre”.

Atmosphere

If the pre-match rendition of “Marching on Together” before the United game had been at a political rally it would have been terrifying. There’s a vocal punch in every word. Their former goalkeeper Paul Robinson claimed Elland Road is worth “another 10 points”.

“I played in some stadiums and the crowds were loud and everything, but I think Elland Road is very different,” says Stach, who joined from Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga. “The stadium is buzzing and then you feel like you have more energy. I think this is so rare in football when you have this.” Outsiders might describe the vibe as truculent. Locals would just call it blunt and gritty.

Photograph by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images