EFL Championship: Ahead of Leeds United’s imminent promotion to top flight, a

Sixteen years after their disastrous relegation from the English top-flight that led them to financial troubles and a player exodus, Leeds United are on the cusp of returning to the Premier League.

Leeds currently sit atop the EFL Championship table, with 87 points from 44 games with two left to play, and they are five points clear of West Bromwich Albion in the second automatic promotion place with 82 points off 44 games. Brentford are currently placed third, with 81 points from 44 games.

For Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds to confirm promotion, they will need to either hope that West Brom either draw or lose to Huddersfield Town later on Friday, or Brentford drop points against Stoke City on Saturday. If neither of these happens, Leeds will go through if they draw or defeat Derby County on Sunday.

Leeds United sit atop the Championship table with 87 points. Twitter @LUFC

With Leeds United’s return back to the top flight increasingly imminent, it is worth looking back at their major highs and lows.

Early Premier League era

In a season where Arsenal’s Invincibles celebrated their historic Premier League triumph, Leeds United were enduring another extreme – the despair and tensions of relegation.

They had won the First Division back in 1991, and took part in the newly-formed Premier League from the 1992-93 season. Their first season in the Premier League under manager Howard Wilkinson was disastrous, with Leeds bowing out of the UEFA Champions League in the early rounds and finishing 17^th in the table, narrowly avoiding relegation. And despite maintaining the fifth place in the two seasons that followed (1993-94 and 94-95), they endured a finish outside the top 10, finishing 13^th and 11^th in the two seasons that followed. As a result, in the 1996-97 season when they finished 11^th, Wilkinson had his contract terminated, and was replaced by George Graham.

Graham’s appointment as Leeds boss was controversial in a way that he had previously been handed a one-year ban from The Football Association for getting illegal payments from a football agent. However, controversies aside, Graham got in talented youth players such as Dutch forward jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and also helped Leeds qualify for the UEFA Cup in the 1997-98 season after finishing fifth.

However, in October 1998, Graham left Leeds for Tottenham Hotspur and was replaced by assistant manager David O’ Leary. Leeds enjoyed a fine run of form during O’ Leary’s tenure, and never finished outside the top five. Their best Premier League finish to date, a third-place result, came in 1999-00, and they reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup the same season. They continued their impressive run in Europe, reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League the following season, while they ended fourth in…