Leeds City

At the turn of the century, Leeds was the largest city in the country without representation in the Football League. In October 1904, the newly formed Leeds City FC took over the lease of the Elland Road ground from Hunslet FC, and played friendly games against Football League clubs during the 1904—5 season.

In the summer of 1905, the Football League extended its membership by four clubs. The League had made no secret of its desire to make inroads into the Rugby League-dominated West Riding, and just as Bradford City (born out of Manningham Rugby Club) had been welcomed with open arms in 1903, so too were Leeds City for season 1905-06.

Unfortunately, the new Club did not make the impact which they had hoped for, and after a promising 6^th place finish in their first season, settled into generally mid-table finishes for the next five seasons.

The 1911-12 season was a severe disappointment, and it was necessary to seek re-election. Whilst that was achieved without difficulty, financial problems beset the Club and a receiver was appointed, but in the summer of 1912 a new Manager arrived – Herbert Chapman.

Chapman was to become one of the legendary Managers of English football – leading both Huddersfield Town and Arsenal to League Championship successes a few years later.

1912-13

For the 1912-13 season Chapman set about rebuilding the team, using proven players – one of whom was Jimmy Speirs, signed from Bradford City.

The season saw the Club finish 6^th – a significant improvement on recent years – just 10 points off promotion. The financial problems abated, the Club moved into profit and attendances increased from an average of under 8,000 in 1911-12 to over 13,000.

In the FA Cup, an early exit was made in Round One – beaten at home by Burnley, who were to gain promotion from the Second Division at the end of the season, and would win the F A Cup in the following year.

Despite joining mid-way through the season, Jimmy Speirs ended as second top scorer with 10 goals, behind the prolific Billy McLeod.

**Leeds City - Football League (Division Two) record 1912-13**
				Goals
Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Points	Position
38	15	10	13	70	64	40	6th

**Jimmy Speirs’ appearances/goals summary – 1912-13 Leeds City**
Competition	Appearances	Goals
Football League Division Two	19	10
FA Cup	1	-

**Jimmy’s Speirs’ playing record at Leeds City (1912-13):-**
Date	Opponents	Competition	Venue	Result	Score	Attendance	Goals scored by Jimmy
1912 28 Dec	Fulham	FL	H	L	2-3	10,000	-
1913 1 Jan	Blackpool	FL	A	W	3-0	5,000	-
4 Jan	Barnsley	FL	A	L	0-2	5,000	-
15 Jan	Burnley	FAC Rd 1	H	L	2-3	13,109	-
18 Jan	Bradford PA	FL	H	W	2-0	10,000	1
25 Jan	Wolves	FL	A	D	2-2	8,000	-
8 Feb	Leicester F	FL	H	W	5-1	10,000	1
15 Feb	Stockport Co	FL	A	L	0-6	7,000	-
22 Feb	Preston NE	FL	H	W	5-1	18,000	-
1 Mar	Burnley	FL	A	D	2-2	12,000	1
8 Mar	Hull City	FL	H	W	1-0	20,000	-
15 Mar	Glossop NE	FL	A	L	1-2	2,000	-
21 Mar	Grimsby Town	FL	A	L	2-3	8,000	-
22 Mar	Clapton Orient	FL	H	W	3-1	6,000	2
24 Mar	Bury	FL	A	D	1-1	10,000	-
25 Mar	Bury	FL	H	W	4-2	17,000	1
29 Mar	Lincoln City	FL	A	D	3-3	9,000	1
12 Apr	Bristol City	FL	A	D	1-1	15,000	1
19 Apr	Birmingham	FL	H	W	4-0	8,000	2
26 Apr	Huddersfield T	FL	A	L	0-1	8,000	-
FL – Football League Division Two FAC – F A Cup

1913-14

What would become the Club’s best-ever season started with four wins and four defeats in the first eight games. However, only one of the next thirteen was lost, and the Club’s promotion bid was underway. This spell included City’s highest-ever victory – 8-0 versus Nottingham Forest at Elland Road on 29 November 1913.

Above - Leeds City team line-up, October 1914 (click on thumbnail to enlarge)

Average crowds topped 15,000, with a League high of 25,000 for the promotion tussle with Woolwich Arsenal on 11 April 1914.

A pen picture of Jimmy in his Leeds City days is still in his family's possession. Apparently taken from a Leeds City programme, it talks glowingly of "Jimmie" as a "popular Peacock.... a much esteemed and admired skipper" and of his "invaluable leadership". On the reverse there is what appears to be part of a preview of a forthcoming FA Cup tie against Gainsborough Trinity, which would presumably date the article to around December 1913.

Jimmy, as featured in Leeds City's "Portrait Gallery"

Jimmy's Leeds City FC Player's Ticket & Rules Book, 1913/14

Jimmy lines up at inside-forward in the match between Fulham and Leeds City - a fixture played on Boxing Day 1913 at Craven Cottage. Billy McLeod scored the goal for City in a 1-0 success. Reproduced by kind permission of "The Mighty Mighty Whites - the definitive history of Leeds United" (www.mightyleeds.co.uk)

Ultimately, however, it all ended in disappointment. "The Peacocks" finished fourth on 47 points, behind Arsenal (49) and the promoted pair of Bradford Park Avenue (49) and Champions, Notts County (53).

As ever, there was no consolation in the FA Cup. The Club had never advanced beyond the Second Round, and it was a similar story this time. Gainsborough Trinity (who had lost their Football League status two years earlier) were overcome by 4-2 on 10 January, setting up a tie with West Bromwich Albion from Division One. In front of a season-high attendance of 29,733 at Elland Road, Albion went through with a 2-0 success.

Training at Elland Road for the Gainsborough cup-tie (click on thumbnail to enlarge)

Jimmy Speirs captained the Leeds City side, and 12 goals in 29 games again left him as second top scorer – once again behind Billy McLeod (above, click to enlarge), who netted 27 times for the second season running.

**Leeds City - Football League (Division Two) record 1913-14**
				Goals
Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Points	Position
38	20	7	11	76	46	47	4th

**Jimmy Speirs’ appearances/goals summary – 1913-14**
Competition	Appearances	Goals
Football League Division Two	29	12
FA Cup	2	-

**Jimmy’s Speirs’ playing record at Leeds City (1913-14):-**
Date	Opponents	Competition	Venue	Result	Score	Attendance	Goals scored by Jimmy
1913 6 Sep	Glossop NE	FL	H	W	3-0	8,000	1
13 Sep	Stockport Co	FL	A	L	1-2	10,000	-
20 Sep	Bradford PA	FL	H	W	5-1	23,000	1
27 Sep	Notts County	FL	A	L	0-4	12,000	-
4 Oct	Leicester F	FL	H	W	2-1	18,000	-
11 Oct	Wolves	FL	A	W	3-1	10,000	2
18 Oct	Hull City	FL	H	L	1-2	20,000	1
25 Oct	Barnsley	FL	A	W	4-1	12,000	2
1 Nov	Bury	FL	H	W	2-1	20,000	1
8 Nov	Huddersfield T	FL	A	D	1-1	9,000	-
15 Nov	Lincoln City	FL	H	W	1-0	12,000	-
22 Nov	Blackpool	FL	A	D	2-2	5,000	-
29 Nov	Nottingham F	FL	H	W	8-0	14,000	1
6 Dec	W Arsenal	FL	A	L	0-1	18,000	-
13 Dec	Grimsby T	FL	H	W	4-1	10,000	-
20 Dec	Birmingham	FL	A	W	2-0	15,000	-
25 Dec	Fulham	FL	H	W	2-1	30,000	-
26 Dec	Fulham	FL	A	W	1-0	25,000	-
27 Dec	Glossop NE	FL	A	D	1-1	2,000	-
3 Jan 1914	Stockport Co	FL	H	W	5-1	10,000	1
10 Jan	Gainsborough	FAC Rd 1	A	W	4-2	14,000	-
17 Jan	Bradford PA	FL	A	L	1-3	32,184	-
24 Jan	Notts County	FL	H	L	2-4	25,000	-
31 Jan	West Brom A	FAC Rd 2	H	L	0-2	29,733	-
7 Feb	Leicester F	FL	A	L	1-5	4,000	1
14 Feb	Wolves	FL	H	W	5-0	10,000	1
21 Feb	Hull City	FL	A	L	0-1	18,000	-
28 Feb	Barnsley	FL	H	W	3-0	20,000	-
2 Mar	Clapton O	FL	A	L	1-3	7,000	-
10 Apr	Bristol City	FL	A	D	1-1	20,000	-
25 Apr	Birmingham	FL	H	W	3-2	10,000	-
FL – Football League Division Two FAC – F A Cup

1914-15

After the near miss the previous season, hopes were high that City could achieve promotion to the First Division. However, four successive defeats to start the season set the tone, from which they never fully recovered and they ended the season 15^th (of 20) in the league table.

Just a month before the season kicked-off, Britain had entered World War One and continuation of organised league football became increasingly difficult. Mounting casualties and the fact that the War was not "all over by Christmas" meant that that, at the end of the 1914-15 season, official Football League competition was abandoned until 1919.

Although conscription was not introduced until a couple of years into the War, attendances suffered and gates at Elland Road fell to an average of around 7,000.

Leeds C cig card colour 2.JPG (288942 bytes)

Jimmy features on this 1914 Churchman's cigarette card (click on thumbnails to enlarge)

Once again, the FA Cup campaign was short-lived. The First Round produced an excellent win by 2-1 at Derby County, who would become Second Division Champions at the end of the season. However, City’s interest in the competition ended in the Second Round, with a 1-0 defeat at Queens Park Rangers from the Southern League.

The only silverware achieved came in the West Riding Cup, where Jimmy Speirs’ goal beat fellow Second Division side Hull City in the Final on 11 November 1914 at Elland Road. This was to be the only honour in what was to prove to be Leeds City’s relatively short history.

(Click on the thumbnail images for enlarged photographs of Jimmy's West Riding Cup Winners medal).

**Leeds City - Football League (Division Two) record 1914-15**
				Goals
Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Points	Position
38	14	4	20	65	64	32	15th

**Jimmy Speirs’ appearances/goals summary – 1914-15**
Competition	Appearances	Goals
Football League Division Two	25	10
FA Cup	2	-
West Riding Cup	1	1

**Jimmy’s Speirs’ playing record at Leeds City (1914-15):-**
Date	Opponents	Competition	Venue	Result	Score	Attendance	Goals scored by Jimmy
1914 2 Sep	Fulham	FL	H	L	0-1	8,000	-
5 Sep	Stockport Co	FL	A	L	1-3	5,000	-
9 Sep	Fulham	FL	A	L	0-1	5,000	-
12 Sep	Hull City	FL	H	L	2-3	8,000	1
19 Sep	Blackpool	FL