1999–2000 Leeds United A.F.C. season

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Leeds United

1999–2000 season
Chairman	Peter Ridsdale
Manager	David O'Leary
Stadium	Elland Road
Premier League	3rd
FA Cup	Fifth round
League Cup	Fourth round
UEFA Cup	Semi-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Michael Bridges (19) All: Michael Bridges (21)
Highest home attendance	40,192 vs Newcastle United (25 September 1999, Premier League)
Lowest home attendance	11,912 vs Port Vale (12 December 1999, FA Cup)
Average home league attendance	37,579
← 1998–99 2000–01 →

During the 1999–2000 season, Leeds United A.F.C. competed in the FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons).

Season summary[]

After a promising previous season, good times looked to be on the horizon for David O'Leary and his young team in his first full season in charge, even after losing their previous season's top scorer Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to Spanish side Atletico Madrid. O'Leary added more young quality to his squad, defenders Michael Duberry and Danny Mills were signed from Chelsea and Charlton respectively. Midfielders Eirik Bakke and Jason Wilcox also joined, along with striker Michael Bridges.

Leeds had a tough start in the league, wins over Southampton and newly-promoted Sunderland were each followed with losses to Liverpool and Manchester United, but a 2–1 win at Tottenham saw Leeds begin a record of 10 straight wins at home. Leeds stormed to the top of the Premiership, with new striker Michael Bridges and Harry Kewell scoring regularly, but in the New Year star players Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate were involved in an off the pitch incident in Leeds city centre, a saga which was to hamper the club for the next few years. In the meantime, Leeds made relatively early exits from both domestic cup competitions, going out of the League Cup to eventual winners Leicester City, and the FA Cup to eventual runners-up Aston Villa.

Defeats to Manchester United and Liverpool saw Leeds lose ground in the title race; however, Leeds were progressing well in the UEFA Cup and reached the semi final against Turkish side Galatasaray. However two Leeds supporters were stabbed to death in clashes before the game; the deaths clearly affected Leeds on the pitch that night, and they lost the first leg of the tie 2–0. A 2–2 draw in the return leg meant Leeds were knocked out of the UEFA Cup.

Domestically, four consecutive league defeats almost ended hopes of finishing in the top three, but Leeds recovered well enough to go into the final day in third place, leaving them needing to better Liverpool's result in order to secure Champions League football. While Leeds could only draw, their neighbours Bradford City did them a huge favour by unexpectedly defeating Liverpool, securing not only their own top-flight survival, but third place for Leeds. Champions League qualification capped off an overall successful season for Leeds, and seemingly provided a platform for the club to build on going forwards.

Final league table[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Manchester United (C)	38	28	7	3	97	45	+52	91	Qualification for the Champions League first group stage
2	Arsenal	38	22	7	9	73	43	+30	73
3	Leeds United	38	21	6	11	58	43	+15	69	Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
4	Liverpool	38	19	10	9	51	30	+21	67	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round[a]
5	Chelsea	38	18	11	9	53	34	+19	65

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
38	21	6	11	58	43	+15	69	12	2	5	29	18	+11	9	4	6	29	25	+4

Results by round

Results[]

Premier League[]

FA Cup[]

League Cup[]

UEFA Cup[]

First round[]

Second round[]

Third round[]

Fourth round[]

Quarter-finals[]

Semi-finals[]

First-team squad[]

Squad at end of season^[1]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ENG Nigel Martyn 2 DF  IRL Gary Kelly 3 DF  IRL Ian Harte 4 DF  NOR Alf-Inge Håland 5 DF  RSA Lucas Radebe 6 DF  ENG Jonathan Woodgate 7 MF  SCO David Hopkin 8 FW  ENG Michael Bridges 10 FW  AUS Harry Kewell 11 MF  ENG Lee Bowyer 12 FW  ENG Darren Huckerby

No. Pos. Nation Player 13 GK  ENG Paul Robinson 14 MF  IRL Stephen McPhail[c] 16 MF  ENG Jason Wilcox 17 FW  ENG Alan Smith 18 DF  ENG Danny Mills 19 MF  NOR Eirik Bakke 20 MF  WAL Matt Jones 21 DF  AUT Martin Hiden 22 DF  ENG Michael Duberry 23 MF  ENG David Batty

Left club during season[]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 MF  POR Bruno Ribeiro (to Sheffield United) 16 DF  ENG Danny Granville (to Manchester City) 28 DF  ENG Paul Shepherd (to Ayr United)

No. Pos. Nation Player 29 MF  ENG Mark Jackson (to Scunthorpe United) 31 MF  NOR Tommy Knarvik (to Brann)

Reserve squad[]

The following players did not appear for the first team this season.

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 24 DF  NZL Danny Hay 25 DF  SCO David Robertson 26 GK  AUS Danny Milosevic 27 DF  IRL Alan Maybury 30 DF  NED Robert Molenaar 32 FW  ENG Neil Ross 33 MF  NIR Wesley Boyle 34 MF  ENG Kevin Dixon 35 FW  ENG Lee Matthews 36 GK  ENG 37 FW  ENG Tony Hackworth 38 DF  IRL Damian Lynch 39 DF  ENG Gareth Evans 40 MF  NIR Simon Watson 41 MF  NIR Brian Lagen

No. Pos. Nation Player 42 DF  WAL Kevin Evans 43 FW  NIR Warren Feeney — DF  ENG — DF  ENG Frazer Richardson — DF  IRL — DF  AUS Shane Cansdell-Sherriff — MF  ENG Jamie McMaster — MF  ENG Harpal Singh — FW  ENG Craig Farrell — FW  ENG Caleb Folan

Appearances, goals and cards[]

(Starting appearances + substitute appearances)^[2]

No.	Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		UEFA Cup		Total		Discipline
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	Nigel Martyn	38	0	3	0	2	0	12	0	55	0	2	0
2	DF	Gary Kelly	28+3	0	3	0	2	0	11	0	44+3	0	7	0
3	DF	Ian Harte	33	6	3	1	1	0	12	1	49	8	11	1
4	MF	Alf-Inge Håland	7+6	0	0	0	0	0	5+1	1	12+7	5	5	0
5	DF	Lucas Radebe	31	0	2	0	2	0	11	2	46	2	6	1
6	DF	Jonathan Woodgate	32+2	1	3	0	2	0	10	0	47+2	1	1	0
7	MF	David Hopkin	10+4	1	0	0	1	0	2+1	0	13+5	1	1	0
8	FW	Michael Bridges	32+2	19	1+1	0	2	0	12	2	47+3	21	9	0
10	FW	Harry Kewell	36	10	3	2	2	0	12	5	53	17	7	1
11	MF	Lee Bowyer	31+2	5	3	1	1	0	11	5	46+2	11	19	0
12	FW	Darren Huckerby	9+24	2	3	0	0+1	0	1+8	1	11+35	3	0	0
14	MF	Stephen McPhail	23+1	2	0	0	1+1	0	9	0	36+2	2	0	0
16	MF	Jason Wilcox	15+5	3	2	0	0	0	3+1	1	20+6	4	3	0
17	FW	Alan Smith	20+6	4	2+1	1	1	0	2+6	1	25+13	6	10	1
18	DF	Danny Mills	16+1	1	0+1	0	1	1	2	0	19+2	2	5	0
19	MF	Eirik Bakke	24+5	2	3	4	2	0	9+1	2	38+6	8	7	0
20	MF	Matt Jones	5+6	0	0+1	0	0+1	0	3+2	0	8+10	0	3	0
21	DF	Martin Hiden	0+1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0	0	0
22	DF	Michael Duberry	12+1	1	1	0	0+1	0	1	0	14+2	1	4	1
23	MF	David Batty	16	0	0	0	2	0	4	0	22	0	4	0

Transfers[]

In[]

Date	Pos.	Name	From	Fee
15 June 1999	DF	Danny Mills	Charlton Athletic	£4,000,000
9 July 1999	DF	Michael Duberry	Chelsea	£4,500,000
23 July 1999	FW	Michael Bridges	Sunderland	£5,000,000
11 August 1999	FW	Darren Huckerby	Coventry City	£4,000,000
19 August 1999	DF	Danny Hay	Perth Glory	£200,000
17 December 1999	MF	Jason Wilcox	Blackburn Rovers	£3,000,000
15 January 2000	GK	Danny Milosevic	Perth Glory	£110,000
5 March 2000	GK	Shaun Allaway	Reading	£300,000
15 May 2000	MF	Olivier Dacourt	RC Lens	£7,200,000

Out[]

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee
11 June 1999	DF	Gunnar Halle	Bradford City	£200,000
15 June 1999	MF	Lee Sharpe	Bradford City	£200,000
30 June 1999	MF	David Wetherall	Bradford City	£1,400,000
16 July 1999	FW	Clyde Wijnhard	Huddersfield Town	£750,000
4 August 1999	FW	Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink	Atlético Madrid	£12,000,000
6 August 1999	FW	Derek Lilley	Oxford United	£75,000
1 October 1999	FW	Paul Shepherd	Ayr United	Free transfer
22 October 1999	MF	Bruno Ribeiro	Sheffield United	£500,000
12 November 1999	DF	Danny Granville	Manchester City	£1,000,000
9 March 2000	MF	Mark Jackson	Scunthorpe United	Free transfer
15 April 2000	FW	Neil Ross	Stockport County	Free transfer
12 May 2000	MF	Tommy Knarvik	SK Brann	Free transfer
26 May 2000	DF	Martin Hiden	FK Austria Wien	£500,000

Loaned out[]

• Danny Granville – Manchester City, 26 July
• Kevin Dixon – York City, 5 August
• Mark Jackson – Barnsley, 14 January
• Kevin Evans – Swansea City, 17 January
• Lee Matthews – Gillingham, 23 March

Transfers in: £28,310,000

Transfers out: £16,625,000

Total spending: £11,685,000

Total spending: £5,240,000

Notes[]

References[]