Season 1978-1979 Details

In the close season Armfield bought striker John Hawley from Hull City for £85,000, and allowed two further legends to move on. Paul Reaney, who became the first player to negotiate his own transfer under the new freedom of contract, chose to join Bradford City while ‘Sniffer’ Clarke become player-manager of Barnsley for £45,000, and achieved promotion in his first season in charge. Armfield had his critics, who claimed him to be indecisive, but it was often said that he was too nice an individual to be a success at top-level football management. The truth being that he had to tackle a job which Don Revie had always maintained he would have found near impossible! Yet Armfield was not to be allowed the opportunity to see all his signings blend together which, not surprisingly, was a major disappointment to him. Replacing him was not an easy task for the United Board. Top men such as Lawrie McMenemy, Ron Saunders & Don Howe could not be tempted to Elland Road and United started the new season with the faithful Maurice Lindley in another spell as caretaker manager.

Read more about the 1978-1979 season in the The Wilderness Years section of our Leeds United history timeline. For player appearances, goals, red cards and transfers for the 1978-1979 season click here.

	Season Record	GP	W	D	L	F	A	GD	P	Pos
Division One		42	18	14	10	70	52	18	50	5
FA Cup		3	1	1	1	9	7	2	-	R4
League Cup		8	4	3	1	13	5	8	-	SF
TOTAL		53	23	18	12	92	64	28	-	-

	Managers	First Game	P	W	D	L	Win%
	Maurice Lindley	Arsenal (A) - 19/08/1978	19/08/1978	5	1	2	2	20.00%
	Jock Stein	Manchester United (H) - 23/08/1978	23/08/1978	10	4	3	3	40.00%
	Jimmy Adamson	Derby County (H) - 28/10/1978	28/10/1978	38	18	13	7	47.37%

	Division One		Venue	Date		Score
	Arsenal	A	Highbury	19/08/1978		2 : 2	D
	Manchester United	H	Elland Road	23/08/1978		2 : 3	L
	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	Elland Road	26/08/1978		3 : 0	W
	Chelsea	A	Stamford Bridge	02/09/1978		3 : 0	W
	Manchester City	A	Maine Road	09/09/1978		0 : 3	L
	Tottenham Hotspur	H	Elland Road	16/09/1978		1 : 2	L
	Coventry City	A	Highfield Road	23/09/1978		0 : 0	D
	Birmingham City	H	Elland Road	30/09/1978		3 : 0	W
	Bolton Wanderers	A	Burnden Park	07/10/1978		1 : 3	L
	West Bromwich Albion	H	Elland Road	14/10/1978		1 : 3	L
	Norwich City	A	Carrow Road	21/10/1978		2 : 2	D
	Derby County	H	Elland Road	28/10/1978		4 : 0	W
	Liverpool	A	Anfield	04/11/1978		1 : 1	D
	Arsenal	H	Elland Road	11/11/1978		0 : 1	L
	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	Molineux	18/11/1978		1 : 1	D
	Chelsea	H	Elland Road	22/11/1978		2 : 1	W
	Southampton	H	Elland Road	25/11/1978		4 : 0	W
	Ipswich Town	A	Portman Road	02/12/1978		3 : 2	W
	Bristol City	H	Elland Road	09/12/1978		1 : 1	D
	Everton	A	Goodison Park	16/12/1978		1 : 1	D
	Middlesbrough	H	Elland Road	23/12/1978		3 : 1	W
	Aston Villa	A	Villa Park	26/12/1978		2 : 2	D
	Queens Park Rangers	A	Loftus Road	30/12/1978		4 : 1	W
	Manchester City	H	Elland Road	13/01/1979		1 : 1	D
	Tottenham Hotspur	A	White Hart Lane	20/01/1979		2 : 1	W
	Coventry City	H	Elland Road	03/02/1979		1 : 0	W
	Birmingham City	A	St Andrews	10/02/1979		1 : 0	W
	West Bromwich Albion	A	The Hawthorns	24/02/1979		2 : 1	W
	Norwich City	H	Elland Road	03/03/1979		2 : 2	D
	Derby County	A	Baseball Ground	10/03/1979		1 : 0	W
	Manchester United	A	Old Trafford	24/03/1979		1 : 4	L
	Southampton	H	Elland Road	31/03/1979		2 : 2	D
	Ipswich Town	H	Elland Road	07/04/1979		1 : 1	D
	Middlesbrough	A	Ayersome Park	10/04/1979		0 : 1	L
	Aston Villa	H	Elland Road	14/04/1979		1 : 0	W
	Nottingham Forest	A	City Ground	16/04/1979		0 : 0	D
	Everton	H	Elland Road	21/04/1979		1 : 0	W
	Bolton Wanderers	H	Elland Road	25/04/1979		5 : 1	W
	Bristol City	A	Ashton Gate	28/04/1979		0 : 0	D
	Queens Park Rangers	H	Elland Road	04/05/1979		4 : 3	W
	Nottingham Forest	H	Elland Road	15/05/1979		1 : 2	L
	Liverpool	H	Elland Road	17/05/1979		0 : 3	L

	FA Cup		Venue	Date		Score
	Hartlepool United FA Cup 3rd Round	A	Victoria Park	18/01/1979		6 : 2	W
	West Bromwich Albion FA Cup 4th Round	A	The Hawthorns*	26/02/1979		3 : 3	D
	West Bromwich Albion FA Cup 4th Round Replay	A	The Hawthorns	01/03/1979		0 : 2	L

	League Cup		Venue	Date		Score
	West Bromwich Albion League Cup 2nd Round	A	The Hawthorns	29/08/1978		0 : 0	D
	West Bromwich Albion League Cup 2nd Round Replay	H	Elland Road	06/09/1978		0 : 0	D
	West Bromwich Albion League Cup 2nd Round 2nd Replay	A	Maine Road	02/10/1978		1 : 0	W
	Sheffield United League Cup 3rd Round	A	Bramall Lane	10/10/1978		4 : 1	W
	Queens Park Rangers League Cup 4th Round	H	Elland Road	07/11/1978		2 : 0	W
	Luton Town League Cup 5th Round	H	Elland Road	13/12/1978		4 : 1	W
	Southampton League Cup Semi Final 1st Leg	H	Elland Road	24/01/1979		2 : 2	D
	Southampton League Cup Semi Final 2nd Leg	A	The Dell	30/01/1979		0 : 1	L

	Division One Table		Pld	Pts	GD	W	D	L	F	A
1		Liverpool	42	68	69	30	8	4	85	16
2		Nottingham Forest	42	60	35	21	18	3	61	26
3		West Bromwich Albion	42	59	37	24	11	7	72	35
4		Everton	42	51	12	17	17	8	52	40
5		Leeds United	42	50	18	18	14	10	70	52
6		Ipswich Town	42	49	14	20	9	13	63	49
7		Arsenal	42	48	13	17	14	11	61	48
8		Aston Villa	42	46	10	15	16	11	59	49
9		Manchester United	42	45	-3	15	15	12	60	63
10		Coventry City	42	44	-10	14	16	12	58	68
11		Tottenham Hotspur	42	41	-13	13	15	14	48	61
12		Middlesbrough	42	40	7	15	10	17	57	50
13		Bristol City	42	40	-4	15	10	17	47	51
14		Southampton	42	40	-6	12	16	14	47	53
15		Manchester City	42	39	2	13	13	16	58	56
16		Norwich City	42	37	-6	7	23	12	51	57
17		Bolton Wanderers	42	35	-21	12	11	19	54	75
18		Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	34	-24	13	8	21	44	68
19		Derby County	42	31	-27	10	11	21	44	71
20		Queens Park Rangers	42	25	-28	6	13	23	45	73
21		Birmingham City	42	22	-27	6	10	26	37	64
22		Chelsea	42	20	-48	5	10	27	44	92

	References
	Sheridan Dictates: Season Statistics 1978-79
	OzWhite: Leeds United Season Statistics and Teamsheets 1978-79
	Leeds United Programme Guide: Season 1978/79
	Leeds-Fans.org.uk: Season 1978 - 1979