Bristol Rovers early baptism of fire in League One continues this week with the eagerly awaited visit of Leeds United to the Memorial Stadium. The last time the teams met in Bristol was almost exactly 46 years ago, 23 September 1961. Rovers won a Second Division game 4-0 at Eastville. It was a pivotal season for both clubs. Rovers were relegated, whilst Leeds missed the drop by three points and within two years won the Championship.

Whilst Leeds went on from there to become one of the dominant teams for well over a decade, Rovers were to struggle and almost dropped out of the League. As recently as 2001-02, Rovers finished last but one in the League (above only a hapless Halifax Town), whereas Leeds were finishing Fifth in the Premier League above Chelsea.

A capacity crowd of almost 12,000 is expected for the Friday night game and it should create a tremendous atmosphere in a game in which one team or other will lose a record. Rovers have not lost in 17 League games, whilst Leeds have won their first five games of the season so far to wipe away the infamous 15 point penalty imposed by the Football League.

Looking ahead to the Friday night game Leeds skipper Alan Thompson will undergo a late fitness test after he missed the win over Hartlepool. The 33-year-old midfielder had a groin injury but aims to be back in contention. Thompson has started four of Leeds' five league matches but was rested for the Carling Cup games against Macclesfield and Portsmouth.

Last weekend Leeds maintained the only 100 percent record in the country with a 2-0 home win over Hartlepool. Dennis Wise's side remain bottom but are now just two points behind 23rd placed Walsall following a goal in each half from strike pairing Tresor Kandol (20 mins) and Jermaine Beckford (50 mins).

Looking back at the history of the Yorkshire club Leeds United's predecessor team Leeds City FC was formed in 1904, but was forcibly disbanded by The Football League in 1919 in response to allegations of illegal payments to players during the First World War. A new club, Leeds United, was formed and began playing in the Midland League. In 1920 Leeds was elected to the Football League.

Over the following few years, Leeds consolidated their position in the Second Division and in 1924 won the title and with it promotion to the First Division. However, they failed to establish themselves and were relegated in 1926-27. In the years up until the start of World War 2 Leeds were twice relegated, both times being instantly re-promoted the following season.

In the 1946-47 season, the first after the war, Leeds were relegated again with the worst league record in their history. They remained in the Second Division for a further nine seasons until 1955-56, when they once again won promotion, inspired by Welsh legend John Charles.

However, Charles was hungry for success at the highest level, and manager Raich Carter was unable to convince him that Leeds could satisfy his ambitions. Charles was sold to Juventus for a then world record of £65,000; the loss of such a key player led to Leeds' decline, and the team was relegated to the Second Division in 1959-60.

In March 1961 the club appointed Don Revie as manager. His stewardship began in adverse circumstances; the club was in financial difficulty and in 1961-62 only a win in the final game of the season saved the club from relegation to Division Three, the season that Rovers occupied that final relegation spot.

Revie turned the team around, winning promotion to the First Division in 1963-64. Between 1965 and 1974, Revie's Leeds never finished outside of the top four, won two League Championships (1968-69 and 1973-74), the FA Cup (1971-72), the League Cup (1967-68) and two Inter-Cities Fairs Cups (1967-68 and 1970-71).

Set against the success was an unenvied record of second places; during the same period Leeds were runners up in the League five times, losing finalists in the FA Cup three times, runners up in the Fairs Cup once, and losing finalists in the European Cup Winners Cup. Revie's last season at Elland Road was in 1974, and he left Leeds to take up the role of managing the English national team.

Brian Clough was appointed as Revie's successor. This was a surprise appointment, as Clough had been an outspoken critic of Revie and the team's tactics. The team performed poorly under Clough, and after only 44 days he was dismissed and replaced by former England captain Jimmy Armfield.

Armfield took Revie's ageing team to the final of the 1974-75 European Cup, where they were defeated by Bayern Munich. Assisted by coach Don Howe, Armfield rebuilt Revie's team, and though it no longer dominated English football, it remained in the top ten for subsequent seasons. However, the board was impatient for success and dismissed Armfield, replacing him with Jock Stein, who also lasted just 44 days before leaving to manage Scotland.

The board turned to Jimmy Adamson but he was unable to stop the decline. In 1980 Adamson resigned and was replaced by former Leeds and England star Allan Clarke. Despite spending freely on players, he was unable to stem the tide and the club was relegated at the end of 1981-82. Clarke was replaced by former team-mate Eddie Gray.

With no money to spend on team building, Gray concentrated on youth development, without winning them promotion from the Second Division. The board again became impatient and sacked him in 1985, replacing him with another former Revie star, Billy Bremner. Bremner carried on where Gray had left off, but found it just as difficult to achieve promotion, though he did bring the club close; Leeds got to the 1987 play-off final but were defeated by Charlton Athletic after extra time.

In October 1988, with the team 21st in the Second Division, Bremner was fired to make way for Howard Wilkinson, who oversaw promotion back to the First Division in 1989-90. Under Wilkinson the club finished 4th in 1990-91 and then won the title in 1991-92. However, the 1992-93 season was a poor one, with Leeds exiting the Champions League in the early stages, and eventually finishing 17th in the League, narrowly avoiding relegation.

Wilkinson's Leeds were unable to provide any consistent challenge for honours, and his position was not helped by a poor display in the 1996 League Cup final which Leeds lost to Aston Villa. Leeds finished 13th in 1995-96, and after a heavy home defeat to Manchester United early in 1996-97, Wilkinson had his contract terminated.

Leeds appointed George Graham as Wilkinson's replacement. The appointment was controversial as Graham had previously received a one year ban from the Football Association for receiving illegal payments from a Football Agent. Graham made some astute purchases, and by the end of the season Leeds had qualified for the following season's UEFA Cup.

In October 1998 Graham moved on to become manager of Tottenham Hotspur, and Leeds opted to replace him with assistant manager David O'Leary. O'Leary introduced promising youngsters, and under the coaching of Eddie Gray Leeds secured 3rd place in the league, sending the club into the UEFA Champions League.

In the UEFA Cup, Leeds reached their first European semi-final in 25 years and were paired against Turkish champions Galatasaray in Istanbul. Leeds lost the game, but the result was overshadowed by the death of two Leeds fans, Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight, who were stabbed to death before the game. Leeds were only able to draw the return leg at Elland Road, thus going out of the competition.

O'Leary's Leeds never finished outside of the top five, but following their appearance in the UEFA Champions League 2001 semi-final against Valencia their fortunes began to change. Under Chairman Peter Ridsdale, Leeds had taken out large loans against the prospect of the share of the TV rights and sponsorship revenues that come with UEFA Champions League qualification and any subsequent progress in the competition.

However Leeds narrowly failed to qualify for the Champions League, and as a consequence did not receive enough income to repay the loans. The first indication that the club was in financial trouble was the sale of Rio Ferdinand to Manchester United for approximately £30m.

Ridsdale and O'Leary publicly fell out over the sale, and O'Leary was sacked and replaced by former England manager Terry Venables. Leeds performed badly under Venables, and other players were sold to repay the loans, including Jonathan Woodgate whom Ridsdale had promised Venables would not be sold.

Tensions mounted between the pair, eventually resulting in the sacking of Venables, who was replaced by Peter Reid. By this time Leeds were in danger of relegation, but Reid saved Leeds from the drop in the penultimate game of the season. During this time Ridsdale had resigned from the Leeds board, and was replaced by economics expert Professor John McKenzie.

An unsuccessful start to the 2003-04 season saw Peter Reid dismissed, and head coach Eddie Gray took over as caretaker manager until the end of the season.
Gerald Krasner, an insolvency specialist, led a consortium of local businessmen which took over Leeds and under his chairmanship oversaw the sale of the clubs' assets, including senior and emerging youth players of any value.
Caretaker manager Gray was largely blameless for the performance of the team during the 2003-04 season as the majority of the squad was sold out from underneath him and despite his best efforts, Leeds were relegated after 14 years in the top flight.

Following relegation, Gray's reign as caretaker manager was terminated, and Kevin Blackwell was appointed manager. Most of the remaining players were sold or released on free transfers to further reduce the wage bill. Leeds were eventually forced to sell both their training ground, for £4.2m, and their Elland Road stadium in the autumn of 2004.

The board finally sold the club to Ken Bates for £10m. Blackwell stabilized the team by signing players on free transfers and low wages and Leeds finished the 2004-05 season mid-table in the Championship.

In the 2005-06 season Leeds finished in the top 6 and made the promotion playoff final, which they lost to Watford. On 10 September 2006, Kevin Blackwell announced that within a year the club would be debt-free. However, the 2006-07 season started badly and on 20 September 2006 his contract as manager of Leeds United was terminated.

Dennis Wise was eventually installed as his replacement after a month without a permanent manager, but was unable to lift the team out of the relegation zone for much of the season, despite bringing a number of experienced loan players into the squad.

With relegation virtually assured, Leeds entered a Company Voluntary Arrangement (administration) on 4 May 2007, thus incurring a league imposed 10 point deduction which officially relegated the club to the third tier of English football.

The CVA was due to end on 3 July 2007 which would have allowed Bates to regain full control of the club. However HM Revenue & Customs challenged the CVA, a decision which could ultimately have resulted in the liquidation of the club. Under league rules, if the club were still in administration at the start of the next season, Leeds would have been prevented from starting their campaign by the Football League.

Following the challenge by HMRC, the club was put up for sale by KPMG, and once again Ken Bates' bid was accepted. The league eventually sanctioned this under the "exceptional circumstances rule" but imposed a 15 point deduction due to the club not following football league rules on clubs entering administration. On 31st August 2007 HMRC decided not to pursue their legal challenge any further.

Looking at the history of games between the two clubs it is remarkably sparse and surprisingly even. Of the 11 games played there have been 3 victories to each team and 5 draws,

The first time the two clubs competed was in 1953-54 season when Rovers, fresh from their Third Division (South) Championship season drew both games, 3-3 in Yorkshire in October and 1-1 in Bristol in February. That season Rovers finished 9th and Leeds 10th.
The following season Rovers ran up their heaviest score against the white rose team with a 5-1 win at Eastville. Perhaps the most remarkable game between the teams was on 29 August 1960 when there was a 4-4 score-line after Leeds had lead 4-0 at half-time. In a strange fluke of fixturing the teams had tied 1-1 at Elland Road just five days prior.

Talking about the coming game United's Boss Denis Wise said "It's a good chance for us, but they're doing okay, they're up there so it'll be a difficult game for us, but it's a chance to catch a few teams."

Having collected four points from the first two of a trio of tough games Rovers' Management team will be pleased with the progress made in the higher echelon. They will however be anxious to ensure that this good form is not a 'bubble' that burst and sees the team tumble down the table. Friday night will be a stern test of Rovers' credentials.

Written by Gerry Prewett