Leeds United A.F.C. Reserves And Youth Team
Leeds United Reserves are the English football reserve team of Leeds United A.F.C. The manager of the reserves is Neil Redfearn and they currently play behind closed doors friendlies at the club's training ground Thorp Arch. In previous seasons, the reserves have played at York City's Bootham Crescent, South Leeds Stadium and the first team's ground Elland Road. The reserves are generally a mix of recovering or fringe first-team players, young professionals and promising scholars.
The Leeds United Development Squad are the development squad of Leeds United A.F.C. They play in the Professional Development League. Neil Redfearn is the current manager of the team. They play at the club's training ground, Thorp Arch, although they have announced they may also occasionally play at Elland Road.
Leeds United Under 18s are the youth team of Leeds United A.F.C. They play in the Professional Development League. The youth team won the competition's predecessor, the Premier Academy League, in the 2002–03 season, when the league was split into Under-19s and Under-17s, with Leeds winning the Under-17s competition. Richard Naylor is the current coach of the Leeds Under 18s. They play at the club's training ground, Thorp Arch. The youth team also annually compete in the FA Youth Cup, having won it twice – the first time in 1993, beating Manchester United 4–1 and the second time beating Crystal Palace 3–0 in 1997.
Leeds' concentration on youth since the Ridsdale era attracted praise at the highest level with the president of FIFA Sepp Blatter commenting "Leeds, a club I greatly respect, have to be applauded for its efforts in this regard".
The Leeds United Academy has produced several promising youngsters that have been signed by Premier League clubs in recent years. Michael Woods, Ben Gordon and Tom Taiwo moved to Chelsea, Danny Rose was snapped up by Tottenham Hotspur, Danny Ward switched to Bolton Wanderers and Luke Garbutt moved to Everton while still in the Leeds United youth team.
Former players that graduated through the Leeds United academy include England internationals Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Paul Robinson, Scott Carson, Jonathan Woodgate and Alan Smith, Australian international Harry Kewell, Republic of Ireland internationals Stephen McPhail, Gary Kelly and Ian Harte and England Under-21 internationals Jonny Howson, Matthew Kilgallon and Fabian Delph. Former club and international greats that also came through Leeds' youth ranks include; John Charles, Terry Cooper, Peter Lorimer, Paul Reaney, Norman Hunter, Jack Charlton, Albert Johanneson, Billy Bremner, Eddie Gray, Gary Speed, John Lukic, David Batty, and Paul Madeley.
Graduates in the current Leeds United first team squad are plentiful, with Sam Byram, Alex Cairns, Chris Dawson, Ross Killock, Tom Lees, Simon Lenighan, Dominic Poleon, Charlie Taylor, Zac Thompson, Lewis Turner and Aidan White all having made appearances in the first team squad recently.
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