1988–89 Leeds United A.F.C. season

Leeds United

1988–1989 season
Chairman	Leslie Silver
Manager	Billy Bremner (until 28 September 1988), Peter Gunby (c) (until 10 October 1988), Howard Wilkinson
Stadium	Elland Road
Second Division	10th
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Third round
Full Members' Cup	Second round
←  1989–90 →

During the 1988–89 season, Leeds United A.F.C. competed in the Football League Second Division. It was Leeds' seventh season in the second tier since relegation from the First Division in 1982.

Season summary[]

Following two seasons in and just outside of the promotion play-off places, Leeds made a poor start to the season, taking six points from the first six games. A League Cup victory against Peterborough United was not enough to prevent manager and former team captain Billy Bremner from being sacked. Howard Wilkinson was appointed as the new manager on 10 October after a brief caretaker stint by Peter Gunby.

Leeds rose to mid-table by December and sat in 6th by mid-February, losing only two league matches in that time. The turnaround stalled in late February and early March as a winless streak saw the team fall back to 12th in the league table. Wilkinson brought Gordon Strachan, Chris Fairclough, and Carl Shutt into the lineup, and Leeds climbed the table back to 6th by 1 April. Although these new players would be involved in the successes of subsequent years, this season's resurgence did not last, and Leeds took just 11 points from the last eight games to finish the campaign in 10th.

First team squad[]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ENG Mervyn Day — GK  ENG Ian Andrews — GK  WAL Neil Edwards — DF  WAL Mark Aizlewood (captain) — DF  ENG Mickey Adams — DF  SCO Jack Ashurst — DF  ENG Neil Aspin — DF  ENG Brendan Ormsby — DF  ENG Simon Grayson — DF  ENG Chris Fairclough — DF  ENG Peter Haddock — DF  ENG Mike Whitlow — DF  ENG Gary Williams — DF  SCO David Rennie — DF  JAM Noel Blake — DF  ENG Dylan Kerr — DF  ENG Glynn Snodin — DF  ENG Peter Swan

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG David Batty — MF  ENG Vince Hilaire — MF  IRL John Sheridan — MF  WAL Gary Speed — MF  ENG John Stiles — MF  SCO Gordon Strachan (captain) — MF  WAL Mickey Thomas — MF  ENG Andy Williams — FW  ENG Ian Baird — FW  ENG Lee Chapman — FW  ENG Bobby Davison — FW  ENG Peter Mumby — FW  ENG John Pearson — FW  ENG Carl Shutt — FW  ENG Bob Taylor

Transfers and loans[]

Source: leeds-fans.org^[1]

Competitions[]

Football League Second Division[]

League table[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
8	Ipswich Town	46	22	7	17	71	61	+10	73
9	West Bromwich Albion	46	18	18	10	65	41	+24	72
10	Leeds United	46	17	16	13	59	50	+9	67
11	Sunderland	46	16	15	15	60	60	0	63
12	AFC Bournemouth	46	18	8	20	53	62	−9	62

Results[]

Win

Draw

Loss

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result[a]	Scorers	Attendance	Position
27 August 1988	Oxford United	Home	1–1	Snodin	22,038	11
3 September 1988	Portsmouth	Away	0–4	—	15,263	21
10 September 1988	Manchester City	Home	1–1	Blake	23,677	21
17 September 1988	Bournemouth	Away	0–0	—	7,922	19
21 September 1988	Barnsley	Home	2–0	Davison, Hilaire	17,370	17
24 September 1988	Chelsea	Home	0–2	—	26,080	18
1 October 1988	Brighton & Hove Albion	Away	1–2	Baird	7,109	21
4 October 1988	Sunderland	Away	1–2	Davison	12,671	21
8 October 1988	Watford	Home	0–1	—	15,657	21
16 October 1988	Swindon Town	Away	0–0	—	9,234	21
22 October 1988	Leicester City	Home	1–1	Hilaire	17,263	21
26 October 1988	Bradford City	Away	1–1	Davison	13,048	21
29 October 1988	Hull City	Home	2–1	Baird, Sheridan	17,536	21
5 November 1988	Ipswich Town	Away	1–0	Sheridan (pen)	11,750	20
12 November 1988	West Bromwich Albion	Home	2–1	Baird, Aizlewood	20,442	19
19 November 1988	Oldham Athletic	Away	2–2	Davison (2)	8,824	20
22 November 1988	Birmingham City	Away	0–0	—	6,168	19
26 November 1988	Stoke City	Home	4–0	Baird (2), Davison, Sheridan (pen)	19,933	14
3 December 1988	Walsall	Away	3–0	Davison (2), Whitlow	6,885	11
10 December 1988	Shrewsbury Town	Home	2–3	Davison, Sheridan (pen)	19,967	14
17 December 1988	Crystal Palace	Away	0–0	—	9,847	14
26 December 1988	Blackburn Rovers	Home	2–0	Baird, Davison	31,622	11
31 December 1988	Plymouth Argyle	Home	2–0	Baird, Snodin	24,043	11
2 January 1989	Manchester City	Away	0–0	—	33,034	11
14 January 1989	Birmingham City	Home	1–0	Hilaire	21,937	7
21 January 1989	Oxford United	Away	2–3	Blake, Hilaire	7,928	11
4 February 1989	Sunderland	Home	2–0	Davison, Sheridan (pen)	31,985	8
11 February 1989	Watford	Away	1–1	Pearson	13,439	9
18 February 1989	Leicester City	Away	2–1	Snodin, Davison	14,151	6
25 February 1989	Swindon Town	Home	0–0	—	22,651	8
1 March 1989	Bradford City	Home	3–3	Baird, Blake, Hilaire	33,325	8
5 March 1989	West Bromwich Albion	Away	1–2	Adams	15,914	10
11 March 1989	Ipswich Town	Home	2–4	Blake, Hilaire	19,639	12
14 March 1989	Hull City	Away	2–1	Baird, Davison	8,887	10
19 March 1989	Barnsley	Away	2–2	Aizlewood, Sheridan (pen)	11,578	10
25 March 1989	Portsmouth	Home	1–0	Baird	27,049	8
27 March 1989	Blackburn Rovers	Away	0–2	—	11,533	10
1 April 1989	Bournemouth	Home	3–0	Shutt (3)	21,095	6
5 April 1989	Crystal Palace	Home	1–2	Shutt	25,604	9
9 April 1989	Plymouth Argyle	Away	0–1	—	9,365	10
15 April 1989	Brighton & Hove Albion	Home	1–0	Williams	14,915	7
22 April 1989	Chelsea	Away	0–1	—	30,337	10
29 April 1989	Stoke City	Away	3–2	Davison, Strachan, Sheridan (pen)	9,051	10
1 May 1989	Walsall	Home	1–0	Aizlewood	13,280	10
6 May 1989	Oldham Athletic	Home	0–0	—	14,459	10
13 May 1989	Shrewsbury Town	Away	3–3	Rennie, Strachan (2)	4,693	10

Source: www.soccerbase.com,^[3] www.worldfootball.net,^[4] leeds-fans.org^[1]

FA Cup[]

Win

Draw

Loss

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result[a]	Scorers	Attendance
Third round	7 January 1989	Brighton & Hove Albion	Away	2–1	Baird (2)	10,900
Fourth round	28 January 1989	Nottingham Forest	Away	0–2	—	28,107

Source:^[5]

League Cup[]

Win

Draw

Loss

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result[a]	Scorers	Attendance
Second round first leg	27 September 1988	Peterborough United	Away	2–1	Snodin, Baird	4,979
Second round second leg	12 October 1988	Peterborough United	Home	3–1[b]	Davison, Hilaire, Sheridan (pen.)	8,894
Third round	2 November 1988	Luton Town	Home	0–2	—	19,447

Source:^[5]

Full Members' Cup[]

Win

Draw

Loss

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result[a]	Scorers	Attendance
First round	9 November 1988	Shrewsbury Town	Home	3–1	Davison (2), Aizlewood	3,220
Second round	29 November 1988	Millwall	Away	0–2	—	4,242

Source:^[5]

Notes[]

References[]