The 2013–14 season was

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

's fourth consecutive season in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

Season summary

Leeds began the season in the same strong form that helped them avoid relegation the previous year, and by Christmas Day were in the play-off places, leaving fans cautiously optimistic that Brian McDermott might be the man to take them back into the top-flight after a decade away. As had become all-too familiar for the club, however, off-field events saw their promotion challenge quickly unravel. GFH Capital, who had purchased the club the previous year, announced that they did not have the funds to continue running the club long-term, and eventually sold Leeds to maverick Italian owner

Massimo Cellino Massimo Cellino (; born 28 July 1956) is an Italian entrepreneur and football club owner. Through his family trust Eleonora Sport Ltd he is the owner of Italian club Brescia Calcio, and is the former owner of italian club Cagliari, and English cl ...

, who immediately ran afoul of the Football Association's fit and proper persons test due to a past criminal conviction. The uncertainty had a clear effect on the field, with Leeds' form collapsing dramatically, eventually leading to a farcial episode where McDermott was sacked, only to be reinstated a few days later. The team won only three games in-between Christmas Day and April 8, before a late flurry of ten points from their final five matches stabilized their league position (though they would have survived even had they not gained any points from these games, largely thanks to the dismal form of the bottom four sides). However, this was not enough to save McDermott's job, and he parted company with Leeds shortly after the season ended, with club captain Ross McCormack, whose goals were largely credited with helping Leeds avoid a serious relegation struggle, handing in a transfer request shortly thereafter.

Events

This is a list of the significant events to occur at the club during the 2013–14 season, presented in chronological order, starting on 4 May 2013 and ending on the final day of the club's final match in the 2013–14 season. This list does not include transfers or new contracts, which are listed in the transfers section below, or match results, which are in the

results A result is the outcome of an event. Result or Results may also refer to: Music * ''Results'' (album), a 1989 album by Liza Minnelli * ''Results'', a 2012 album by Murder Construct * "The Result", a single by The Upsetters * "The Result", a song ...

section.

August

*11 August:

Rodolph Austin Rodolph William Austin (born 1 June 1985) is a Jamaican professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. He is renowned as a tough tackling central midfielder who can play in attacking and central midfield as well as a central defender. He b ...

replaces

Lee Peltier Lee Anthony Peltier (born 11 December 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for Championship club Rotherham United. While he has played in positions in both defence and midfield, he primarily plays as a right-bac ...

Club Captain The team captain of an association football team, sometimes known as the skipper, is a team member chosen to be the on-pitch leader of the team; they are often one of the older or more experienced members of the squad, or a player that can heavi ...

October

*21 October: Ryan Hall is suspended from the club for two weeks pending an investigation into a disciplinary issue

November

*30 November: English consortium granted exclusive period for significant investment in club by

GFH Capital GFH Capital, formerly known as Injazat Capital, is a firm of private equity investors, advisors and fund managers, providing capital and strategic support for growth companies. GFH Capital is among the region’s private equity firms, and is l ...

January

*7 January: The club confirms the group which will acquire a majority shareholding in

is Sport Capital. *10 January:

announce strategic partnership with

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

. *16 January:

Ross McCormack Ross McCormack (born 18 August 1986) is a Scottish professional footballer who most recently played as a striker for Aldershot Town. McCormack started his career with Scottish Premier League club Rangers in 2002, where he made few appearance ...

is named as new

, replacing

, who was appointed club captain at the start of the season – who stepped down from the role following the 6–0 defeat against

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

. *30 January: The takeover of Sport Capital collapses after some of the consortium's backers didn't feel able to deliver the financial backing.
However,

confirm they are in continual discussions regarding the introduction of new investment into

February

*1 February 2014:

confirm that it has agreed to sell a 75 per cent stake in the club to Eleonora Sport Ltd, a company owned by

. *4 February 2014:

Enterprise Insurance Enterprise Group is a pioneering Ghanaian insurance company. They are listed on the stock index of the Ghana Stock Exchange, the GSE All-Share Index. It has been in operation since 1924, when Ghana was the British Gold Coast The Gold Coast ...

, the club's shirt sponsor, file a winding-up petition over an alleged unpaid debt understood to be about £1.5 million. *7 February 2014:

exchanged contracts for the sale of 75 per cent of the club to Eleonora Sport Ltd, subject to Football League approval.

and its investors will retain a 25 per cent stake in

. *27 February 2014:

withdraw winding-up petition after the club are understood to have repaid around £1.6 million to Enterprise Insurance, with the hearing at the High Court on 17 March cancelled.

March

*24 March 2014: After

was found to be guilty of an offence under Italian tax legislation to the non-payment of

import duties A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and polic ...

of a boat,

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

disqualified Cellino from taking over the club.

's Board and Executive Management announced they will continue discussions with the Football League and Eleonora Sport to find a solution that is suitable to all parties. *27 March 2014: The legal representatives of

lodged an appeal against

’s decision that he is subject to a disqualifying condition under its Owners’ and Directors’ Test. *28 March 2014: After the club failed to pay the players on time, the

players agreed to defer part of their wages for March.

April

*5 April 2014: After an independent

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

overturned the decision made by

to disqualify

was granted approval to complete the purchase of a majority stake in

, subject to FL Approval. The approval will see Eleonora Sport take a 75% stakeholding in the club while former majority shareholders

and investors retain 25%. *8 April 2014:

post £9.5 million loss for the 2012–13 financial year. Massimo Cellino completes his takeover of

having agreed a deal to buy a 75% stake in the club, according to his lawyers. *10 April 2014:

ratified

's takeover of

, allowing Cellino to become a Director of the club. *11 April 2014:

David Haigh David Lawrence Haigh is a British human rights lawyer and international crisis and media manager. Haigh is the former managing director of Leeds United Football Club and Chairman of Leeds United Ladies Football Club, he was the first openly L ...

resigns as Managing Director.

May

*3 May 2014:

finish the 2013–14 Championship season 15th, on 57 points.

First-team squad

Squad information

Appearances (starts and substitute appearances) and goals include those in

the Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

(and

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

(and

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

and

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

.
¹Player made fifty eight appearances (scoring six goals) for the club during his first spell at the club

Transfers

In

Loans in

Loans out

Out

New contracts

¹Contracts come into effect Summer 2014

Pre-season

Competitions

Overall summary

Championship

Results summary

Results by round

Championship

FA Cup

League Cup

Awards

Internal Awards

Official Player of the Year Awards

The results of the 2013–14 Leeds United A.F.C.

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

Awards were announced at a dinner on 3 May 2014 at

Elland Road Elland Road is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the home of Premier League club Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the 14th largest football stadium in England. The g ...

. * Fans' Player of the Year:

* Young Player of the Year:

Alex Mowatt Alex James Mowatt (born 13 February 1995) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for club West Bromwich Albion F.C., West Bromwich Albion. Club career Leeds United Mowatt was born in Doncaster and ...

* Players' Player of the Year:

* Goal of the Season:

(vs

, 17 August) * Fastest Goal of the Season:

Matt Smith Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as the Eleventh Doctor, eleventh incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the BBC series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Daemon Targarye ...

(vs

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

, 26 October) * Community Player of the Year:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2013-14 Leeds United A.F.C. season Leeds United F.C. seasons

Foot The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made ...