Dick Ray and his very young team: Leeds United go for promotion, 1932
After the Peacocks were relegated from Division One in 1930/31, the Leeds United board took a radical step and gave more control to the club's manager, Dick Ray. Part of the new breed of bosses following Herbert Chapman's example, Ray was convinced he'd get Leeds back to the top flight at the first attempt — and that he wouldn't need any new players to do it.
The players he did have were young, inexperienced, but promising, but would that be good enough for promotion? And, just as importantly, would it be good enough for the supporters, whose growing reputation for getting on their own players' backs was making Elland Road a miserable place?
'The young blood slogan is all right one at a time,' one disgrunted fan wrote to the Evening Post, 'but a forward line of young blood, with a half-back and full-back thrown in, is going too far.'
It was the only way Dick Ray was willing to go. How far could it take Leeds United?
The young blood slogan
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Leeds United were relegated from the First Division in 1931, denting soccer's growth in a rugby obsessed city. But the manager was backing his young players to bounce back — and backing himself.
It's a long time since there was such enthusiasm
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Leeds United's young players couldn't score at Elland Road, but the explanation seemed simple. The fans.
Willis Edwards breaks his nose
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Leeds were the outstanding side in the Second Division, a fine tribute to manager Dick Ray. But his young squad needed their best players to be at their best.
Too much pessimism, too many excuses
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Leeds United's chairman, Alderman Clarke, was looking for common cause among struggling football clubs. What he got was to be put back in his place.
Rally round Leeds United
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Injuries were threatening Leeds United's promotion bid, and the club called for more backing for its young team. But even the local ghosts weren't interested.
One fears for their future popularity
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Leeds United were on the brink of promotion back to the First Division. But by showing their best form away from Elland Road, they were risking their reputation in their home city.
The most pleased man in Leeds
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Leeds United's young players had two games left to seal promotion to the First Division. Two games for their own fans to resist giving these weak boys a good shaking.