1990–91 Leeds United A.F.C. season

Leeds United
1990–91 season
Chairman	Leslie Silver
Manager	Howard Wilkinson
Stadium	Elland Road
First Division	4th
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Semi-finals
Full Members Cup	Northern final
Top goalscorer	League: ; Lee Chapman (21); All: ; Lee Chapman (31)
Highest home attendance	32,014 vs Manchester United ; (24 February 1991, League Cup)
Lowest home attendance	6,334 vs Derby County ; (22 January 1991, Full Members Cup)
Average home league attendance	25,779
	← 1989–90 1991–92 →

The 1990–91 season saw Leeds United A.F.C. return to the Football League First Division for the first time since 1982 after winning the 1989–90 Football League Second Division. Manager Howard Wilkinson spent heavily on building a team capable of thriving as well as surviving in the First Division, signing goalkeeper John Lukic and midfielder Gary McAllister, as Leeds finished fourth in the league and reached the semi-finals of the Football League Cup.

Squad edit

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	John Lukic
—	DF	IRL	Jim Beglin
—	DF	ENG	Chris Fairclough
—	DF	ENG	Peter Haddock
—	DF	ENG	Chris Kamara
—	DF	MLT	Dylan Kerr
—	DF	NIR	John McClelland
—	DF	ENG	Glynn Snodin
—	DF	ENG	Mel Sterland
—	DF	ENG	Mike Whitlow
—	DF	ENG	Chris Whyte


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	ENG	David Batty
—	MF	ENG	Simon Grayson
—	MF	WAL	Vinnie Jones
—	MF	SCO	Gary McAllister
—	MF	WAL	Gary Speed
—	MF	SCO	Gordon Strachan (captain)
—	MF	ENG	Andy Williams
—	FW	ENG	Bobby Davison
—	FW	ENG	Lee Chapman
—	FW	ENG	John Pearson
—	FW	ENG	Carl Shutt
—	FW	ENG	Imre Varadi

Competitions edit

Football League First Division edit

League table edit

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
2	Liverpool	38	23	7	8	77	40	+37	76	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
3	Crystal Palace	38	20	9	9	50	41	+9	69
4	Leeds United	38	19	7	12	65	47	+18	64
5	Manchester City	38	17	11	10	64	53	+11	62
6	Manchester United	38	16	12	10	58	45	+13	59^[a]	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round

Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
Notes:

^ Arsenal deducted two points; Manchester United deducted one point due to a brawl in a game between both teams.

Matches edit

Win	Draw	Loss


Date	Opponent	Venue	Result^[a]	Scorers	Attendance
25 August 1990	Everton	Away	3–2	Fairclough, Speed, Varadi	34,412
28 August 1990	Manchester United	Home	0–0	—	29,172
1 September 1990	Norwich City	Home	3–0	Chapman (2), Varadi	25,684
8 September 1990	Luton Town	Away	0–1	—	10,185
15 September 1990	Tottenham Hotspur	Home	0–2	—	31,342
23 September 1990	Sheffield United	Away	2–0	Pearson, Strachan	26,078
29 September 1990	Arsenal	Home	2–2	Chapman, Strachan (pen.)	30,085
6 October 1990	Crystal Palace	Away	1–1	Speed	21,676
20 October 1990	Queens Park Rangers	Home	2–3	Whyte, Chapman	27,443
27 October 1990	Aston Villa	Away	0–0	—	24,219
3 November 1990	Nottingham Forest	Home	3–1	Chapman, Strachan (pen.), McAllister	30,409
11 November 1990	Manchester City	Away	3–2	Chapman, Shutt, Strachan	27,782
17 November 1990	Derby County	Home	3–0	Chapman, Strachan, Speed	27,868
24 November 1990	Coventry City	Away	1–1	Chapman	16,183
1 December 1990	Southampton	Home	2–1	Fairclough, Shutt	29,341
8 December 1990	Manchester United	Away	1–1	Sterland	40,927
16 December 1990	Everton	Home	2–0	Strachan (pen.), Shutt	27,775
23 December 1990	Sunderland	Away	1–0	Sterland	23,773
26 December 1990	Chelsea	Home	4–1	Sterland, Chapman (2), Whitlow	30,893
29 December 1990	Wimbledon	Home	3–0	Chapman, Speed, Sterland	29,292
1 January 1991	Liverpool	Away	0–3	—	36,975
12 January 1991	Norwich City	Away	0–2	—	17,786
19 January 1991	Luton Town	Home	2–1	Strachan (pen.), Fairclough	27,010
2 February 1991	Tottenham Hotspur	Away	0–0	—	32,253
2 March 1991	Southampton	Away	0–2	—	16,585
9 March 1991	Coventry City	Home	2–0	Davison, Whyte	28,880
17 March 1991	Arsenal	Away	0–2	—	26,218
23 March 1991	Crystal Palace	Home	1–2	Speed	28,556
30 March 1991	Chelsea	Away	2–1	Shutt, Fairclough	17,585
2 April 1991	Sunderland	Home	5–0	Chapman (2), Shutt, Speed (2)	28,132
6 April 1991	Wimbledon	Away	1–0	Chapman	6,800
10 April 1991	Manchester City	Home	1–2	McAllister	28,757
13 April 1991	Liverpool	Home	4–5	Chapman (3), Shutt	31,460
17 April 1991	Queens Park Rangers	Away	0–2	—	10,998
23 April 1991	Derby County	Away	1–0	Shutt	12,666
4 May 1991	Aston Villa	Home	5–2	Price (o.g.), Chapman (2), Whyte, Shutt	29,188
8 May 1991	Sheffield United	Home	2–1	Sterland, Shutt	28,978
11 May 1991	Nottingham Forest	Away	3–4	Chapman (2), Shutt	25,067

Source:^[1]

FA Cup edit

Win	Draw	Loss


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result^[a]	Scorers	Attendance
Third round	6 January 1991	Barnsley	Away	1–1	Sterland 81'	22,424
Third round replay	9 January 1991	Barnsley	Home	4–0	Smith (o.g.) 2', Chapman 6', McAllister 83', Strachan (pen.) 86'	19,773
Fourth round	27 January 1991	Arsenal	Away	0–0	—	30,905
Fourth round replay	30 January 1991	Arsenal	Home	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Chapman 59'	27,753
Fourth round second replay	13 February 1991	Arsenal	Away	0–0 (a.e.t.)	—	30,433
Fourth round third replay	16 February 1991	Arsenal	Home	1–2	Chapman 69'	27,190

Source:^[1]

Football League Cup edit

Win	Draw	Loss


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result^[a]	Scorers	Attendance
Second round first leg	26 September 1990	Leicester City	Away	0–1	—	13,744
Second round second leg	10 October 1990	Leicester City	Home	3–0	Walsh (o.g.) 75', Speed 85', Strachan 87'	19,090
Third round	31 October 1990	Oldham Athletic	Home	2–0	Chapman 22', Speed 33'	26,327
Fourth round	27 November 1990	Queens Park Rangers	Away	3–0	McAllister 2', Fairclough 14', Chapman 19'	15,832
Fifth round	16 January 1991	Aston Villa	Home	4–1	Chapman 17', 80', McAllister 54', Speed 77'	28,176
Semi-final first leg	10 February 1991	Manchester United	Away	1–2	Whyte 70'	34,050
Semi-final second leg	24 February 1991	Manchester United	Home	0–1	—	32,014

Source:^[1]

Full Members' Cup edit

Win	Draw	Loss


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result^[a]	Scorers	Attendance
Second round	19 December 1990	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Away	2–1	Varadi 20', McAllister 74'	11,080
Third round	22 January 1991	Derby County	Home	2–1	Shutt 25', Chapman 30'	6,334
Northern semi-final	20 February 1991	Manchester City	Home	2–0 (a.e.t.)	Williams 117', Strachan 120'	11,898
Northern final first leg	19 March 1991	Everton	Home	3–3	Sterland 1', Chapman 37', 70'	13,387
Northern final second leg	21 March 1991	Everton	Away	1–3 (a.e.t.)	Sterland 21'	12,603

Source:^[1]

Transfers edit

Transfers in edit

Date	P	Player	From club	Transfer fee
1 Jun 1990	DF	Chris Whyte	West Bromwich Albion	£450,000
1 Jun 1990	GK	John Lukic	Arsenal	£1,000,000^†
2 Jul 1990	MF	Gary McAllister	Leicester City	£1,000,000

^†Club record transfer fee at the time.

Transfers out edit

Date	P	Player	To club	Transfer fee
1 Jun 1990	FW	Ian Baird	Middlesbrough	£275,000
1 Jun 1990	DF	Noel Blake	Stoke City	Undisc.
1 Jun 1990	FW	John Hendrie	Middlesbrough	£275,000
1 Jun 1990	GK	Alessandro Nista	Ancona Calcio	Undisc.
1 Jun 1990	DF	Chris O'Donnell	Exeter City	Free
1 Jul 1990	DF	Brendan Ormsby	Doncaster Rovers	Free
1 Aug 1990	MF	Mickey Thomas	Stoke City	Free
11 Sep 1990	MF	Vinnie Jones	Sheffield United	£650,000
1 Nov 1990	MF	Vince Hilaire	Stoke City	Free

Total spending: £1,250,000

Loaned out edit

Start date	End date	P	Player	To club
1 Dec 1990	1 Jun 1991	DF	Jim Beglin	Blackburn Rovers
1 Mar 1991	1 Jul 1991	DF	John Pearson	Rotherham

Notes edit

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Leeds United's score written first

References edit

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Leeds United 1990–91". www.ozwhitelufc.net.au. Retrieved 22 July 2020.

[table_hth_ARS0.17298568793246-1] Arsenal deducted two points; Manchester United deducted one point due to a brawl in a game between both teams.

[score-2] Leeds United's score written first

[ozwhite-3] "Leeds United 1990–91". www.ozwhitelufc.net.au. Retrieved 22 July 2020.

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