Leeds Update

It's been a while since I've blogged about the travails of Leeds United, my favorite soccer team in England. If you'll remember, Leeds overspent while in the top flight of English soccer, slid down to the Championship (think AAA equivalent), and then, a year after nearly gaining promotion back to the top flight, went into administration, and crashed down into League One (think AA).*

Due to the administration, the team was docked 15 points at the beginning of the season, and so started out the league season in 24th place in League One, 15 points down to 23rd! They went on an early season tear to dig out of that hole, but cooled off a bit midseason. All the while, the club appealed the decision, arguing that it had already been docked points last season while being relegated from the Championship.

After lots of wrangling, that issue has finally been settled, and Leeds isn't getting those points back. Any other outcome would have caused serious problems. Leeds played itself into sixth place in League One, meaning it will be part of the four-team playoff to determine the third club that gets promotion to the Championship (the first two placed teams go up automatically). Any partial return of points wouldn't really make a difference, but returning the whole 15 points would have knocked Doncaster into the playoff. That would have caused howls (rightfully, I expect) from the Doncaster faithful, particularly if they lost the playoff.

Regardless, it's been an impressive campaign and with the administration issue finally put to rest, it's time to win the playoff, get back in the Championship, and (eventually) make it back to the game's top flight.

* Yes, I realize that the English pyramid is a little complex - used to be the First Division was top, Second Division just below, etc. - but you can get the whole picture here.