History of Leeds United A.F.C. - 1998-2002 David O'Leary: Living The Dream

1998-2002 David O'Leary: Living The Dream

Semi-Finalists: UEFA Cup (1999/00), Champions League (2000/01)

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, S.S Lazio and AC 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 a downturn in Leeds' fortunes, despite heavy investment in the team - the likes of Robbie Fowler and Seth Johnson signing for a combined £18million. O'Leary's team could only finish 5th in the league (due in part to a two-month winless streak at the start of the new year), missing out on qualification for the Champions League again. This was despite an excellent first half of the season, and as late as New Year's Day 2002 Leeds topped the league. 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. O'Leary and Ridsdale publicly fell out over the sale; O'Leary was sacked despite guiding Leeds to four consecutive top five finishes and UEFA Cup and Champions League Semi-Finals, he was replaced by former England manager Terry Venables.