It has been another season to forget for the long suffering supporters of Leeds United.
Yorkshire’s fallen giants head into the weekend’s game with Charlton on a run that has seen them without a win in five, and four consecutive defeats.
In a season where controversial club owner Massimo Cellino has chopped and changed managers for fun, Leeds currently sit in 15th place in the Championship, and look set for another season of disappointment.
The signings haven’t worked out, but then when have they ever over the last decade?
Here we have taken a look back at five of the most pointless signings Elland Road has seen, which went a long way to causing their huge downfall from the top tier of English football.
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Click on Elland Road to reveal the 5 most pointless Leeds United transfers ever
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Seth Johnson
Seth Johnson was considered a decent prospect whilst at Derby, and made his international debut in 2000 for Peter Taylor’s one and only match in charge (the game in which David Beckham captained England for the first time during a 1-0 loss to Italy.)
Billed as the next big thing for all of about five seconds seemed enough to persuade Leeds to pay £7million for him at a time in which they were inundated with midfielders, and spending money like it was going out of fashion.
The fact they also offered Johnson double the wages he was on at Derby was also frankly ridiculous, and played a major part in the club’s fall towards financial abyss.
And worse still, Johnson proved a major flop during his time at Elland Road.
Robbie Fowler
The one time Premier League great was a couple of years past his sell-buy date when he arrived at Elland Road in 2001, for a deal worth £12million.
This sort of spending was typical of Leeds at the time, and whilst Fowler scored a few decent goals during his time with the club, he didn’t do enough to repay the fee.
He lasted less than 18 months at Elland Road, as Leeds were forced to ship him to Manchester City for half of the price as they looked to balance the books.
Jody Morris
At a time in which Leeds were being forced to sell all their best players, the supporters were desperate to see some decent business and some proven Premier League quality arrive to help them maintain their status amongst the top clubs in the country.
Instead, they got Jody Morris on a free transfer.
Morris had failed to hold down a place in any Chelsea side before the Abramovich era.
That says it all really – even if he was a free transfer.
Michael Ricketts
England’s one-cap-wonder completed his move to Elland Road in 2004, just as the club had suffered relegation from the Premier League.
Ricketts had made his name after one stellar season for Bolton during 2001-02, but his career went very much the way of his new club – downhill quickly.
Ricketts managed just 25 appearances in the league for Leeds, and not a single goal.
He has since disappeared off the face of the earth.
Steve Stone
The signing of Steve Stone on a free transfer in 2005 was yet another sign of how far Leeds were falling.
Just four years previously they had been Champions League semi finalists, now they were signing a 33-year-old on a free transfer who had just been offloaded by Portsmouth, in a move that can only be likened to a Sunday League Under-14 side starting one of the overweight and unfit Dad’s in centre midfield.
Stone was already in semi-retirement by the time he rocked up at Elland Road, and managed just 12 league appearances before calling it a day.
