The 2009–10 season was Leeds United A.F.C.s third consecutive season in the third tier of English football which saw them finish second in League One, thus winning promotion to the Championship.
In other competitions, the club played a number of Premier League sides including a historic victory over rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup. The club's run in the FA Cup was the longest since 2003. Leeds also secured a place in the Football League Trophy area final, but lost to Carlisle United on penalties.
Simon Grayson became the first manager in four years to complete a full season as Leeds boss and celebrated it by winning the club's first promotion in twenty years. For the third season in a row, Jermaine Beckford was the club's top goalscorer with 31 goals in all competitions; Beckford was again named the League One Player of the Year, however lost out on the club's Player of the Year to Patrick Kisnorbo.
Events
This is a list of the significant events to occur at the club during the 2008–09 season, presented in chronological order (starting from 15 May 2009 and ending on the final day of the club's final match in the 2009–10 season). This list does not include transfers or new contracts, which are listed in the transfers section below, or match results, which are in the matches section.
May
15 May: The eight new academy scholars for the 2009–10 season are revealed to be: James Baxendale, Jonathan Birbeck, James Booker, Alex Cairns, Joe McCann, Sanchez Payne, Lewis Turner and Nathan Turner. 26 May: The club's top goalscorer in the 2008–09 season, Jermaine Beckford, rejects a three-year contract offer from the club. As a result, the club put the player on the transfer list.
June
17 June: The League One fixtures for the 2009–10 season are released with Leeds' first match against Exeter City at Elland Road. The final game of the season will be against Bristol Rovers at home.
July
2 July: The players return to Thorp Arch for pre-season training. 8 July: The club state that they will be investigating the circumstances surrounding academy product Luke Garbutt's move to Everton. 9 July: The club announce that they have rejected bids from two Premier League clubs for starlet Fabian Delph. They also reveal that they have rejected unacceptable bids for Jermaine Beckford. 17 July: Jermaine Beckford is taken off the transfer list. 24 July: The squad numbers for the new season are announced. Richard Naylor is given the number 6 shirt replacing Ľubomír Michalík who moves to number 17. Paul Huntington swaps to number 24 with Patrick Kisnorbo taking his number 3 shirt. Meanwhile, new recruits Jason Crowe and Shane Higgs take the number 2 and 12 jerseys respectively. 31 July: Richard Naylor is appointed the new club captain.
August
4 August: Chairman, Ken Bates revealed that the club had agreed a fee with Manchester City for Fabian Delph; however City needed to have the bid approved by their owners in the Gulf and required a week to do so. As a result, Leeds rejected City's bid and accepted another bid from Aston Villa. Delph later agreed terms with Villa and was transferred for a fee worth up to £8 million. 6 August: Jonny Howson is announced as the new club vice-captain.
September
5 September: The 2–0 home win against Stockport County sees the club record their best ever start to a season with eight successive victories; the previous best start to a season was in 1973 – the season in which Don Revie won his second First Division title as manager of Leeds. Another club record is beaten with the victory the club's fourteenth successive home league win. 17 September: Leeds City Council offer to re-purchase the club's training ground, Thorp Arch, which was sold by the club to businessman Jacob Adler in 2004. The deal would see the Council renting Thorp Arch to the club with an option for the club to purchase the facility at the end of the lease.
October
16 October: The club announce that they chose not to exercise the option of re-purchasing Thorp Arch from Barnaway Ltd. before the 23:59 deadline on 15 October.
December
16 December: The club's stadium, Elland Road is chosen as one of the fourteen venues for the 2018 World Cup should England be successful in being chosen as the host country.