Great Scott! What will the future bring for Leeds?

A lot can change in 30 years, ask any Leeds United fan. Since October 21st 1985 we've experienced some ups and downs and even more downs and yet we're still at Elland Road every week. To celebrate Back to the Future Day we take a look at the Leeds United of 1985, as well as a look at what we can expect for October 21st 2045.

Back on October 1985 you could say things weren't looking too good for United. Seemingly stranded in the old Division Two, a certain Billy Bremner was in his first season at the helm following the departure of Bremner's former team-mate Eddie Gray. Gray had guided United to a 7th place finish the previous season, missing out on promotion by 5 points (stuff of dreams, right?). 

However things didn't go too well for club legend Bremner. It took his 6 games to get his first win, a 1-0 win away at Brighton, but after this Leeds lost only 1 of their next 8 matches which included a 2-1 win at home to rivals Bradford City. However a lack of investment in the squad led to an all-round average season and the Mighty Whites could only manage a 14th place finish with 53 points. Admittedly this tally was a lot closer to relegation than promotion. October 21st 1985 didn't supply us with too many happy memories, lodged in between a draw at home to Grimsby and a defeat away at Yorkshire rivals Barnsley.

To conclude, an underfunded squad finished in the lower half of the second division. What was that about things changing?

But things started looking up for Leeds soon afterwards! Howard Wilkinson took over from Bremner in 1988 and led United to the Division Two title and promotion in 1990. A league title soon followed in 1992 and after a topsy-turvy decade Leeds were an established top division side, and then it all went wrong. 

So what can we expect from 2045? No-one whould have expected Leeds United to lift the Division One title 7 years after finishing 14th in Division Two. Does this mean we have hope? Picture this...

The date is October 21st 2045, an 89-year-old Massimo Cellino is in his 15th season as owner-manager after running out of managers to sack. His final manager, the then 75-year-old Simon Grayson described his 36 hour tenure as 'shambolic and disrespectful' after he was sacked for mistaking Cellino's Gucci jacket for Prada.

United are experiencing a barren run of success. The early Cellino era brought promotion to the Premier League in 2020 and European football by 2024. A League Cup success had brought the club their first trophy in years after a 4-2 penalty win over a bankrupt Chelsea. However the success dried up and Cellino grew frustrated with the lack of league title despite the obvious gap between Leeds and league champions Arsenal, who under a resurgent Wenger had won 10 league titles in a row from 2019-2028, going undefeated for four season with the great-grandson of Leeds legend Billy Bremner a stalwart in the Gunners' defence.

Leeds slipped down the league following the sacking of 8 managers in 6 months in 2029 and eventually suffered relegation back to the Championship later that season. Following another 12 managers coming and going in the first season back in the Football League, Cellino merged the owner and manager roles to become Supreme Leader of Leeds United F.C.

Despite being banned for tax evasion 13 times and getting the club deducted 10 points for 5 consecutive seasons, our Supreme Leader somehow maintained our Championship status. A Jermaine Beckford Jr injury time goal against a declining Aston Villa on the final day of 2036/37 maintaining our position in the second tier.

Cellino's men did suffer relegation in 2040 however after the FA imposed a 30 point deduction after Cellino sold Elland Road to buy a new yacht for the Mediterranean Sea, leading to mass protests at the renamed White & Mackay Robotics Arena. Leeds got off to a good start in 2041, winning their first 7 games to find themselves top of League One at Christmas. However the January Transfer Window was a disaster as Cellino's failure to land a new right back led to White & Mackay supplying a robotic Ian Harte, leading to 10 point deduction and a stadium ban for Cellino.

A great scott-free season in 2042 led to promotion with a record point's tally of 111 for League One but the return to the Apple Avatar Championship didn't bring the back-to-back promotions Cellino promised the fans, although many had stopped listening back in 2023.

So this leads us back to 2045, an under-fire Cellino sees his Leeds side sitting 13th in the Championship after 11 games on October 21st with little signs of improvement. A recent defeat at up-and-comers Salford City managed by Filip Neville, Spanish-born son of the former England international Phillip, has led to calls for him to finally leave.

However the general consensus is that the Grim Reaper will have to do his job before Massimo steps down.