2009–10 Leeds United F.C. season

• 15 May: The eight new academy scholars for the 2009–10 season are revealed to be: James Baxendale, Jonathan Birbeck, James Booker, Alex Cairns, Joe McCann, Sanchez Payne, Lewis Turner and Nathan Turner.[1]
• 26 May: The club's top goalscorer in the 2008–09 season, Jermaine Beckford, rejects a three-year contract offer from the club. As a result, the club put the player on the transfer list.[2]

• 17 June: The League One fixtures for the 2009–10 season are released with Leeds' first match against Exeter City at Elland Road.[3] The final game of the season will be against Bristol Rovers at home.

• 2 July: The players return to Thorp Arch for pre-season training.[4]
• 8 July: The club state that they will be investigating the circumstances surrounding academy product Luke Garbutt's move to Everton.[5]
• 9 July: The club announce that they have rejected bids from two Premier League clubs for starlet Fabian Delph. They also reveal that they have rejected unacceptable bids for Jermaine Beckford.[6]
• 17 July: Jermaine Beckford is taken off the transfer list.[7]
• 24 July: The squad numbers for the new season are announced. Richard Naylor is given the number 6 shirt replacing Ľubomír Michalík who moves to number 17. Paul Huntington swaps to number 24 with Patrick Kisnorbo taking his number 3 shirt. Meanwhile, new recruits Jason Crowe and Shane Higgs take the number 2 and 12 jerseys respectively.[8]
• 31 July: Richard Naylor is appointed the new club captain.[9]

• 4 August: Chairman, Ken Bates revealed that the club had agreed a fee with Manchester City for Fabian Delph; however City needed to have the bid approved by their owners in the Gulf and required a week to do so.[10] As a result, Leeds rejected City's bid and accepted another bid from Aston Villa.[11] Delph later agreed terms with Villa and was transferred for a fee worth up to £8 million.[12]
• 6 August: Jonny Howson is announced as the new club vice-captain.[13]

• 5 September: The 2–0 home win against Stockport County sees the club record their best ever start to a season with eight successive victories; the previous best start to a season was in 1973 – the season in which Don Revie won his second First Division title as manager of Leeds. Another club record is beaten with the victory the club's fourteenth successive home league win.[14]
• 17 September: Leeds City Council offer to re-purchase the club's training ground, Thorp Arch, which was sold by the club to businessman Jacob Adler in 2004. The deal would see the Council renting Thorp Arch to the club with an option for the club to purchase the facility at the end of the lease.[15][16]

• 16 October: The club announce that they chose not to exercise the option of re-purchasing Thorp Arch from Barnaway Ltd. before the 23:59 deadline on 15 October.[17]

• 16 December: The club's stadium, Elland Road is chosen as one of the fourteen venues for the 2018 World Cup should England be successful in being chosen as the host country.[18]

• 3 January: Leeds United make FA Cup history by becoming the first team outside the Premier League to eliminate Manchester United in Alex Ferguson's managerial career. In doing so, Leeds ended a 29-year streak without a win at Old Trafford.[19][20]
• 6 January: The club confirm that Jermaine Beckford handed in a transfer request on 30 December and that the request was accepted.[21]
• 17 January: Jermaine Beckford withdraws his transfer request, committing himself to the club until the end of his contract at the end of the current season.[22]

• 9 February: Three Leeds players are punched by opposition fans after the club lose to Carlisle United on penalties in the Football League Trophy area final second leg.[23][24]

• 13 March: The club's youth team finish the Emirates Airlines Dubai Sevens tournament as runners-up having beaten Arsenal, Blackburn Rovers and Celtic in previous rounds. The team lost 2–0 to Olympiacos in the final.[25]

• 3 April: Striker Trésor Kandol is fined by the club after being sent off for violent conduct just twenty seconds after coming on the field of play as a substitute in the 1–0 defeat to Norwich City.[26] The red card is the second Kandol has received this season having been sent-off after the final whistle for violent conduct earlier on in the season.[27]
• 17 April: The club qualify for the League One 2009–10 play-offs after 7th place Colchester United lose to Hartlepool United.[28] Even if Colchester win all of their three remaining games and Leeds lose all of theirs, Colchester would still be three points adrift of Leeds in the final league table.[29]

• 8 May: The club come second in the league and thus finally secure automatic promotion to The Championship after a nailbiting season finale against Bristol Rovers.[30][31] With Max Gradel sent off[32] in the first half and the club conceding a goal early in the second half, the Leeds fans feared that they would have to settle for a play-off place; but Jonathan Howson and Jermaine Beckford each scored within four minutes to make the score 2–1 to Leeds and secure their promotion.[33]

N	Pos.	Nat.	Name	Age	Since	App	Goals	Ends	Transfer fee	Notes
1	GK		Casper Ankergren	30	2007	143	0	2010	£200k	[34]
2	DF		Jason Crowe	31	2009	27	2	2011	Free	[35]
3	DF		Patrick Kisnorbo	29	2009	35	1	2011	Free	[36]
4	MF		Michael Doyle	28	2009	52	0	2010	Loan	[37]
5	DF		Rui Marques	32	2005	100	4	2010	Free	[38]
6	DF		Richard Naylor (captain)	33	2009	61	3	2011	Free	[39]
7	FW		Paul Dickov	37	2010	4	0	2010	Free	[40]
8	MF		Neil Kilkenny	24	2008	105	9	2011	£150k	[41]
9	FW		Jermaine Beckford	26	2006	152	85	2010	£ 45k	[42]
10	FW		Luciano Becchio	26	2008	103	36	2011	£300k	[43]
11	DF		Alan Sheehan	23	2008	24	2	2011	Undisclosed	[44]
12	GK		Shane Higgs	32	2009	22	0	2011	Free	[45]
13	FW		Mike Grella	23	2009	40	5	2012	Free	[46]
14	MF		Jonathan Howson (VC)	21	2006	153	17	2011	Youth system	[47]
15	FW		Gary McSheffrey	27	2010	11	1	2010	Loan	[48]
16	MF		Bradley Johnson	23	2008	91	11	2011	£250k	[49]
17	DF		Ľubomír Michalík1	26	2007	76	2	2011	£200k	[50]
18	MF		Andy Robinson	30	2008	50	7	2011	Free	[51]
19	DF		Ben Parker	22	2007	50	1	2012	Youth system	[52]
20	FW		Trésor Kandol	28	2006	79	16	2011	£200k	[53]
21	DF		Shane Lowry	20	2010	12	0	2010	Loan	[54]
22	MF		Andrew Hughes	32	2007	126	1	2010	£300k	[55]
23	FW		Robert Snodgrass	22	2008	108	21	2013	£ 35k	[56]
24	MF		Sanchez Watt	19	2010	6	0	2010	Loan	[57]
25	GK		Alan Martin	21	2007	0	0	2011	Undisclosed	[58]
26	DF		Leigh Bromby	29	2009	37	1	2013	£250k	[59]
27	FW		Davide Somma	25	2009	1	0	2011	Free	[60]
28	MF		Max Gradel1	22	2009	35	6	2012	£250k	[61]
29	FW		Tom Elliott	20	2007	4	0	2011	Youth system	[62]
30	MF		Will Hatfield	18	2009	0	0	2010	Youth system	[63]
32	DF		Aidan White	18	2008	23	0	2012	Youth system	[64]
33	DF		Neill Collins	26	2010	9	0	2010	Loan	[65]
34	GK		Ryan Jones	18	2008	0	0	n/a2	Youth system	[66]

Appearances (starts and substitute appearances) and goals include those in The Championship (and playoffs), League One (and playoffs), FA Cup, League Cup and Football League Trophy.
¹Player first came to the club on loan and was transferred the following year.
²Player joined the club in 2008 as a scholar. He is presently a 2nd year scholar and is not currently signed to the club on professional terms.
Squad includes players registered with the club on the last day of the season (8 May 2010) only.

No.	P	Name	Country	No. games	Notes
6	DF	Naylor		36	Club captain
14	MF	Howson		22	Vice-captain
9	FW	Beckford		1

Last updated: 10 May 2010
Source: Competitive match reports.
Competitive matches only
Matches started as captain only
Country: FIFA nationality; No.: Squad number; P: Position; Name: Player name; No. Games: Number of games started as captain.

R	Player	Position	League One	FA Cup	League Cup	Football League Trophy	Total
1	Snodgrass	RW	10	4	1	0	15
2	Gradel	RW	5	0	0	1	6
	Howson	CM	4	1	0	1	6
	Beckford	FW	4	0	0	2	6
5	Johnson	LM	4	0	0	1	5
6	Becchio	FW	4	0	0	0	4
	Kilkenny	CM	3	0	0	1	4
8	McSheffrey	LW	1	0	0	2	3
9	Doyle	CM	2	0	0	0	2
	Kisnorbo	CB	2	0	0	0	2
	Bromby	RB	1	1	0	0	2
	Kandol	FW	1	1	0	0	2
	Hughes	RB	1	0	0	1	2
14	Crowe	RB	1	0	0	0	1
	Parker	LB	1	0	0	0	1
	Prutton	CM	1	0	0	0	1
	Robinson	LW	1	0	0	0	1
	Rui Marques	CB	1	0	0	0	1
	Watt	LW	1	0	0	0	1
	Vokes	FW	1	0	0	0	1
	White	DF	0	1	0	0	1
	Grella	FW	0	0	1	0	1
	Ephraim	MF	0	0	0	1	1

Last updated:10 May 2010
Source: [69]

N	Pos.	Nat.	Name				Notes
16	MF		Johnson	12
4	MF		Doyle	10
23	MF		Snodgrass	9
26	DF		Bromby	8
6	DF		Naylor	8
28	MF		Gradel	5		1
9	FW		Beckford	6
2	DF		Crowe	6
10	FW		Becchio	5
8	MF		Kilkenny	5
3	DF		Kisnorbo	5
14	MF		Howson	5
21	DF		Lowry	4
33	DF		Collins	3
22	DF		Hughes	3
20	FW		Kandol			1
1	GK		Ankergren	2
30	DF		Capaldi	2
17	DF		Michalík	2
21	FW		Showunmi	1

Last updated: 10 May 2010
Source: [69]
Only competitive matches
= Number of bookings; = Number of sending offs after a second yellow card; = Number of sending offs by a direct red card.

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	Age	EU	Moving from	Type	Transfer window	Ends	Transfer fee	Source
2	DF		Crowe	30	EU	Northampton Town	Free Agent	Summer	2011	Free	[35]
12	GK		Higgs	32	EU	Cheltenham Town	Transferred	Summer	2010	Free	[70]
3	DF		Kisnorbo	28	Non-EU	Leicester City	Free Agent	Summer	2011	Free	[36]
26	DF		Bromby	29	EU	Sheffield United	Transferred	Summer	2013	£250k1	[59]
27	FW		Somma	24	Non-EU	San Jose Earthquakes	Transferred	Summer	20102	Free	[71]
28	MF		Gradel	22	Non-EU	Leicester City	Transferred	Winter	2012	£250k	[61]
7	FW		Dickov	37	EU	Leicester City	Free Agent	Winter	2010	Free	[40]

¹Transfer fee was officially undisclosed, however it was reported by The Times that the fee was £250,000.[72]
²The club has the option of extending the player's contact by an additional year.[71]

N	P	Name	Country	Age	Type	Moving to	Transfer window	Transfer fee	Apps	Goals	Source
4	MF	Jonathan Douglas		27	Out of Contract	Swindon Town	Summer	n/a	166	11	[109]
12	GK	David Lucas		31	Out of Contract	Swindon Town	Summer	n/a	23	0	[109]
2	DF	Frazer Richardson		26	Out of Contract	Charlton Athletic	Summer	n/a	173	5	[35]
24	MF	Peter Sweeney		24	Released	Grimsby Town	Summer	n/a	9	0	[110]
—	DF	Luke Garbutt		16	Transferred	Everton	Summer	£1.55m1	0	0	[111]
15	MF	Fabian Delph		19	Transferred	Aston Villa	Summer	£8m2	54	6	[12]
—	DF	Louis Hutton		14	Transferred	Manchester City	Summer	£ 400k3	0	0	[112]
—	DF	George Swann		14	Transferred	Manchester City	Summer	£ 400k3	0	0	[112]
31	MF	Jonathan Webb		20	Out of Contract		Winter	n/a	1	0	[97]
33	MF	Josh Falkingham		19	Out of Contract	St Johnstone	Winter	n/a	0	0	[97]
—	MF	Ollie Hotchkiss		20	Released	Mansfield Town	Winter	n/a	0	0	[97]
21	FW	Enoch Showunmi		27	Released	Falkirk	Winter	n/a	28	6	[113]
7	MF	David Prutton		28	Released	Colchester United	Winter	n/a	78	4	[103]
24	DF	Paul Huntington		22	Released	Stockport County	Winter	n/a	32	2	[114]

EU = if holds or not a European Union passport; Country: when 2 flags, 1st flag = country that plays for internationally, 2nd flag = country of birth; N = number on jersey; P = Position (for position name, pause mouse pointer on abbreviation); Name = Name on jersey (for more extensive name, pause mouse pointer on name); Age = age on the day of the signing; Moving from = only indicate the club the player was playing before start playing for this club in this season, for the type of the moving see Status column; Moving to = only indicates the club the player is going to play next, for the type of the moving see Status column; Ends = when the player's current contract ends; n/a = Not applicable.
¹The Professional Football Compensation Committee decided that Everton should pay Leeds an initial compensation fee of £600,000 followed by £200,000 upon Garbutt's first full international appearance and £150,000 after the player has made 5, 10, 20, 30 and 40 appearances (thus totalling £750,000 from this final clause). It was also ruled that Leeds should receive 20% of any profit that Everton makes from future sale of the player.[115]
²Transfer fee was officially undisclosed, however it was reported by The Guardian that the fee was approximately an upfront £6 million with an additional £2 million in variables.[116]
³The total compensation fee for the two academy players was reported to be £800,000.[117]