2005–06 Leeds United A.F.C. season

Leeds United

2005-06 season
Chairman	Ken Bates
Manager	Kevin Blackwell
Stadium	Elland Road
The Championship	5th (qualified for play-offs)
Play-offs	Runners-up
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: Rob Hulse (13) All: Rob Hulse (14)
Highest home attendance	27,843 vs Sheffield Wednesday (21 Jan 2006, The Championship)
Lowest home attendance	14,970 vs Oldham Athletic (23 Aug 2005, League Cup)
Average home league attendance	22,355
← 2004–05 2006–07 →

During the 2005–06 English football season, Leeds United A.F.C. competed in the Football League Championship, their second consecutive season at this level.

Season summary

With new players brought in over the summer, the club's goal during the 2005-06 season was promotion. Blackwell's shrewd tactics away from Elland Road and attacking style at home proved highly effective, and by the end of February, Leeds were third in the Championship. However from that point onwards Leeds slumped, gaining just 4 points from a possible 18, and eventually had to settle for a play-off place. In the first round of the play-offs, against Preston North End, Leeds drew 1-1 at Elland Road, but won the return leg 2-0 to advance to the final, played on 21 May at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. However, in a dismal performance, Leeds crashed to a 3-0 defeat to Watford.^[1] While some fans predicted that Leeds would go one better and finally return to the Premier League the following year, others were concerned by the fact that, with the exception of the bottom four teams, Leeds's form going into the play-offs was the worst of any team in the Championship, their only two wins in the final months of the campaign being the play-off victory against Preston and a narrow 1-0 victory against relegated Crewe Alexandra.

Final league table

			P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
C	1	Reading	46	31	13	2	99	32	+67	106
P	2	Sheffield United	46	26	12	8	76	46	+30	90
P	3	Watford	46	22	15	9	77	53	+24	81
	4	Preston North End	46	20	20	6	59	30	+29	80
	5	Leeds United	46	21	15	10	57	38	+19	78
	6	Crystal Palace	46	21	12	13	67	48	+19	75
	7	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	16	19	11	50	42	+8	67
	8	Coventry City	46	16	15	15	62	65	−3	63
	9	Norwich City	46	18	8	20	56	65	−9	62
	10	Luton Town	46	17	10	19	66	67	−1	61
	11	Cardiff City	46	16	12	18	58	59	−1	60
	12	Southampton	46	13	19	14	49	50	−1	58
	13	Stoke City	46	17	7	22	54	63	−9	58
	14	Plymouth Argyle	46	13	17	16	39	46	−7	56
	15	Ipswich Town	46	14	14	18	53	66	−13	56
	16	Leicester City	46	13	15	18	51	59	−8	54
	17	Burnley	46	14	12	20	46	54	−8	54
	18	Hull City	46	12	16	18	49	55	−6	52
	19	Sheffield Wednesday	46	13	13	20	39	52	−13	52
	20	Derby County	46	10	20	16	53	67	−14	50
	21	Queens Park Rangers	46	12	14	20	50	65	−15	50
R	22	Crewe Alexandra	46	9	15	22	57	86	−29	42
R	23	Millwall	46	8	16	22	35	62	−27	40
R	24	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	7	17	22	39	71	−32	38

Results

Leeds United's score comes first^[2]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League Championship

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
7 August 2005	Millwall	H	2-1	20,440	Healy (2, 1 pen)
9 August 2005	Cardiff City	A	1-2	15,231	Blake
13 August 2005	Luton Town	A	0-0	10,102
20 August 2005	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	2-0	21,229	Lewis, Hulse
27 August 2005	Norwich City	A	1-0	25,015	Hulse
10 September 2005	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	3-3	21,212	Healy (2), Douglas
13 September 2005	Sheffield Wednesday	A	0-1	29,986
17 September 2005	Queens Park Rangers	A	1-0	15,523	Hulse
24 September 2005	Ipswich Town	H	0-2	21,676
28 September 2005	Derby County	H	3-1	18,353	Hulse (3)
1 October 2005	Watford	A	0-0	16,050
15 October 2005	Burnley	A	2-1	16,174	Lewis, Hulse
18 October 2005	Southampton	H	2-1	18,881	Hulse, Blake
21 October 2005	Sheffield United	H	1-1	23,600	Richardson
29 October 2005	Reading	A	1-1	22,012	Healy
1 November 2005	Crewe Alexandra	A	0-1	7,220
5 November 2005	Preston North End	H	0-0	22,289
19 November 2005	Southampton	A	4-3	30,173	Butler, Blake, Healy (pen), Miller
22 November 2005	Burnley	H	2-0	21,318	Healy (pen), Blake
26 November 2005	Millwall	A	1-0	8,134	May (own goal)
3 December 2005	Leicester City	H	2-1	21,402	Healy, Kilgallon
10 December 2005	Cardiff City	H	0-1	20,597
17 December 2005	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0-1	26,821
26 December 2005	Coventry City	H	3-1	24,291	Douglas, Blake, Cresswell
28 December 2005	Stoke City	A	1-0	20,408	Lewis
31 December 2005	Hull City	H	2-0	26,387	Douglas (2)
2 January 2006	Plymouth Argyle	A	3-0	17,726	Cresswell, Blake, Hulse (pen)
14 January 2006	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	1-2	7,415	Blake (pen)
21 January 2006	Sheffield Wednesday	H	3-0	27,843	Butler, Cresswell (2)
31 January 2006	Ipswich Town	A	1-1	25,845	Healy (pen)
4 February 2006	Queens Park Rangers	H	2-0	21,807	Cresswell, Butler
11 February 2006	Derby County	A	0-0	27,000
14 February 2006	Watford	H	2-1	7,187	Blake (2, 1 pen)
18 February 2006	Leicester City	A	1-1	25,497	Blake (pen)
25 February 2006	Luton Town	H	2-1	23,644	Douglas, Lewis
4 March 2006	Crystal Palace	A	2-1	23,843	Blake, Hulse
11 March 2006	Norwich City	H	2-2	24,993	Hulse, Lewis
18 March 2006	Coventry City	A	1-1	26,643	Healy (pen)
21 March 2006	Crystal Palace	H	0-1	24,507
25 March 2006	Stoke City	H	0-0	21,452
1 April 2006	Hull City	A	0-1	23,486
8 April 2006	Plymouth Argyle	H	0-0	20,650
15 April 2006	Reading	H	1-1	24,535	Hulse
18 April 2006	Sheffield United	A	1-1	29,329	Healy
22 April 2006	Crewe Alexandra	H	1-0	21,046	Healy
30 April 2006	Preston North End	A	0-2	20,383

Championship play-offs

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
SF 1st Leg	5 May 2006	Preston North End	A	1-1	35,239	Lewis
SF 2nd Leg	8 May 2006	Preston North End	H	2-0	20,283	Hulse, Richardson
F	21 May 2006	Watford	N	0-3	64,736

Top Scorers

• Rob Hulse 13
• David Healy 12
• Robbie Blake 11
• Eddie Lewis 6
• Jonathan Douglas 5
• Richard Cresswell 5
• Paul Butler 3
• Frazer Richardson 2
• Liam Miller 1
• Matthew Kilgallon 1

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	7 January 2006	Wigan Athletic	A	1-1	10,980	Hulse
R3R	17 January 2006	Wigan Athletic	H	3-3 (lost 2-4 on pens)	15,243	Healy (2, 1 pen), Kelly

Top Scorers

• David Healy 2
• Rob Hulse 1
• Gary Kelly 1

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	23 August 2005	Oldham Athletic	H	2-0	14,970	Ricketts, Richardson
R2	20 September 2005	Rotherham United	A	2-0	5,445	Cresswell (2)
R3	25 October 2005	Blackburn Rovers	A	0-3	15,631

Top Scorers

• Richard Cresswell 2
• Michael Ricketts 1
• Frazer Richardson 1

First-team squad

Squad at end of season^[3]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Neil Sullivan 2 DF Gary Kelly 3 DF Stephen Crainey 6 DF Paul Butler 7 MF Jermaine Wright 8 MF Sean Gregan 9 FW David Healy 10 FW Rob Hulse 11 MF Eddie Lewis 12 MF Danny Pugh 13 GK Ian Bennett 14 MF Steve Stone 15 DF Frazer Richardson 16 MF Gylfi Einarsson 17 MF Liam Miller (on loan from Manchester United)

No. Position Player 18 MF Simon Walton 19 MF Eirik Bakke 20 MF Jonathan Douglas 21 MF Shaun Derry 22 FW Ian Moore 23 DF Dan Harding 24 DF Rui Marques 25 FW Richard Cresswell 26 DF Matthew Kilgallon 27 MF Joel Griffiths 28 FW Robbie Blake 30 FW Michael Ricketts 32 FW Jermaine Beckford

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 17 MF Matthew Spring (to Watford) 32 FW Justin Bowler (to Halifax Town) 34 DF Brenton Leister (to Halifax Town)

No. Position Player 34 FW Danny Graham (on loan from Middlesbrough) 35 FW Kevin Smith (to Sunderland)

Reserve squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 29 MF Ian Morris 31 DF Steven McKeown 33 MF Nick Gray

No. Position Player 36 GK Mark Wilberforce 40 FW Jamie Winter

References

1. "Leeds 0-3 Watford". BBC Sport. 21 May 2006. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
2. http://www.statto.com/football/teams/leeds-united/2005-2006
3. http://www.footballsquads.co.uk/eng/2005-2006/faprem/leeds.htm