6 Champion sides who fell by the wayside - the stories of their forgotten triumphs

#2 Leeds United (1991-92)

The Leeds United side that beat Manchester United to the title in 1991-92

Nearing the fag end of the 1991-92 season, a certain Alex Ferguson seemed to have sealed his place in Manchester United folklore as the Mancunians looked set to win a first league win in 25 years. As it turned out, they would have to wait for one more year and the dawn of an era (and what an era it would turn out to be), as their Yorkshire neighbours had other plans that season.

With a defence that more often than not lived true to the maxim “the whole is greater than the sum its parts” and the textbook big man-little man strike partnership of Lee Chapman and Rod Wallace sandwiching one of the best midfields England had seen until then in the forms of Gordon Strachan, Gary McAllister, David Batty and a young, quick-footed Gary Speed, Leeds United were a formidable unit.

They had it all - speed and grit, brain and brawn, youth and experience and most of all, class throughout. Add a certain volatile Frenchman to the mix in the majestic form of Eric Cantona, and you had a mighty fine mix.

Cantona, though, didn’t have as much a role to play in Leeds’s triumph as many think - they were driven more by the drive and tenacity of Strachan and his midfield cohorts. In a rollercoaster season that saw the lead change hands between Leeds and United several times, the Whites held their nerves as they secured 13 points from the final five games to United’s four. This proved critical as they won the 1991 League title by just four points!

The triumph marked the end of an era as the English domestic league would get transformed with the emergence of the arrival of the newly nomenclatured “Premier” league and the steamrolling domination of Alex Ferguson and his United outfits. This would also be the last league title won by a side managed by an Englishman – the incomparable Howard Wilkinson - who took his tightly drilled yet paradoxically entertaining side to uncharted heights in that one glorious season.

His successor, George Graham took Leeds on a near re-enactment of this fairytale, as they consistently were there or thereabouts for the title from 1997-2001, but a tragic financial implosion was soon followed by relegation. The proud team still hasn’t recovered from the excesses of that era and last season finished 15th in the Championship (England’s second tier)