The 2016–17 season saw Leeds United competing in the Championship (known as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) for a seventh successive season.
Season summary Since returning to the Championship in 2010, most of Leeds' seasons had seen mid-table mediocrity, with occasional struggles against relegation, and very few promotion challenges. This season, however, would mark the point where they began to turn the corner. Former Swansea City manager Garry Monk took over as Leeds manager, and enjoyed a less-than-auspicious start, losing four of his first six matches in charge. Owner Massimo Cellino nearly sacked Monk, but having seen precious little success with his strategy of chopping and changing managers over the past three years, decided to give him longer.
Cellino was rewarded for his patience when Leeds' form dramatically improved thereafter, with a strong run of form taking them into the play-off places by early November, and even challenging for automatic promotion by the turn of the year, with the goals of Chris Wood, who had already impressed in the previous season, being crucial to their promotion challenge. While they remained in the play-off places until the final weeks of the seasons, an injury crisis combined with a barren spell for Wood saw the promotion challenge slowly unravel. They ultimately finished in 7th place with 75 points; in many seasons this would have been good enough for a play-off spot, but an exceptionally strong top six meant Leeds ultimately came nowhere close to securing a spot. Still, the season still marked only the third time since relegation from the Premier League in 2004 that Leeds had finished in the top half of the Championship.
Off the pitch, the season saw Cellino wind down his interest in the club, selling half of his shares to compatriot Andrea Radrizzani in January, before selling him the remainder after the season ended.
First-team squad Squad information
Appearances (starts and substitute appearances) and goals include those in the Championship (and playoffs), League One (and playoffs), FA Cup, EFL Cup and EFL Trophy.
Transfers
In DatePos.Nat.NameMoving fromTransfer feeRef.28 June 2016FWMarcus AntonssonKalmar FF £1,600,0006 July 2016GKRobert GreenQueens Park RangersFree7 July 2016MFKemar RoofeOxford United£3,000,0002 August 2016MFBilly WhitehouseDoncaster RoversUndisclosed11 August 2016DFLuke AylingBristol City£200,00016 August 2016MFLiam BridcuttSunderland£1,500,00031 August 2016MFEunan O'KaneBournemouthFree (heavily claused)1 September 2016MFRomario VieiraFree1 September 2016MFConor ShaughnessyReadingFree9 January 2017MFPablo HernándezAl-ArabiUndisclosed
Loans in Start datePos.Nat.NameLoan clubEnd dateRef.1 July 2016DFKyle BartleySwansea CityEnd of season5 July 2016FWHadi SackoSporting CPEnd of season 7 July 2016MFMatt GrimesSwansea CityEnd of season2 August 2016MFPablo HernándezAl-Arabi2 January 201618 August 2016DFPontus JanssonTorinoEnd of season26 August 2016MFDario MeadowsRomaEnd of season31 January 2016FWAlfonso PedrazaVillarrealEnd of season31 January 2016FWModou BarrowSwansea CityEnd of season
Loans out Start datePos.Nat.NameLoan clubEnd dateRef.1 July 2016DFGiuseppe BellusciEmpoliEnd of season9 July 2016FWLee ErwinOldham AthleticEnd of season11 August 2016FWJordan BotakaCharlton AthleticEnd of season18 August 2016MFAlex PurverGuiseley2 January 201721 September 2016MFBilly WhitehouseGuiseley21 December 201622 September 2016FWFrank MulhernSouthport22 December 20161 January 2017FWJack McKayAirdrieoniansEnd of season6 January 2017MFLuke MurphyBurton AlbionEnd of season23 January 2017MFToumani DiagouragaIpswich TownEnd of season23 March 2017MFAlex PurverGuiseley30 April 201723 March 2017DFMike TaylorGuiseley30 April 2017
Transfers out DatePos.Nat.NameMoving toFeeRef.30 June 2016FWMirco AntenucciSPAL Released30 June 2016FWTyla BellStaveley Miners WelfareReleased30 June 2016GKEric GrimesCork City Released30 June 2016DFRoss KillockChesterReleased30 June 2016MFTom LymanReleased30 June 2016FWRobbie McDaidMaldon & TiptreeReleased30 June 2016DFJake SkeltonNorth Ferriby UnitedReleased30 June 2016DFJack TurnbullFlorida Institute of Technology Released30 June 2016FWLewis WaltersNottingham ForestReleased30 June 2016DFScott WoottonMK DonsReleased30 June 2016MFTommaso BianchiAscoli Undisclosed4 July 2016MFCasper SlothAaB Undisclosed8 July 2016MFLewis CookBournemouth£6,000,0001 September 2016DFSol BambaCardiff City Mutual termination27 January 2017MFAlex MowattBarnsley£500,000
New contracts
Pre-season
Competitions
Overall summary CompetitionStarting positionFinal positionFirst matchLast matchChampionship –7th7 August 20167 May 2017FA CupThird roundFourth round9 January 201729 January 2017EFL CupFirst roundFifth round9 August 201629 November 2016 Last updated: 7 May 2017
Championship
League table
Results summary
Results by matchday
Matches
FA Cup
EFL Cup
Statistics Appearances and goals
|colspan="14"|Players currently out on loan:
|colspan="17"|Players who have been available for selection this season, but have now permanently left the club:
Source: Sky Sports
Top scorers PlacePositionNationalityNumberNameChampionshipFA CupEFL CupTotal 1 FW 9 Chris Wood 27 0 3 30 2 FW 11 Souleymane Doukara 6 0 0 6 DF 5 Kyle Bartley 6 0 0 6 MF 19 Pablo Hernández 6 0 0 63 FW 10 Marcus Antonsson 1 0 2 3 MF 15 Stuart Dallas 2 1 0 3 DF 18 Pontus Jansson 3 0 0 3 FW 7 Kemar Roofe 3 0 0 34Own goal 2 0 0 2 FW 24 Hadi Sacko 2 0 0 25 DF 33 Tyler Denton 0 0 1 1 MF 27 Alex Mowatt1 0 1 0 1 FW 29 Alfonso Pedraza 1 0 0 1 MF 23 Kalvin Phillips 1 0 0 1 MF 25 Ronaldo Vieira 1 0 0 1TOTALS 61 2 6 70 1Mowatt left the club on 27 January 2017.
Disciplinary record Last Updated: 7 May 2017 NationNameKalvin Phillips62Liam Bridcutt71Liam Cooper11Pontus Jansson150Luke Ayling100Kyle Bartley120Ronaldo Vieira50Pablo Hernández40Eunan O'Kane40Hadi Sacko40Souleymane Doukara30Robert Green30Charlie Taylor30Gaetano Berardi20Stuart Dallas20Matt Grimes20Alex Mowatt220Chris Wood20Sol Bamba110Modou Barrow10Tyler Denton10Lewie Coyle10Alfonso Pedraza10Marco Silvestri10
1Bamba left club on 1 September 2016. 2Mowatt left club on 27 January 2017.
Suspensions served As of 29 April 2017 Date Matches Missed Player Reason Opponents Missed20 November 20161Pontus Jansson vs Newcastle (H)Rotherham (A)9 December 20161Kalvin Phillips vs Brighton (A)Reading (H)9 January 20172Pontus Jansson vs Cambridge (FA)Derby (A), Barnsley (A)29 January 20171Liam Cooper vs Sutton (FA)Blackburn (A)11 February 20171Liam Bridcutt vs Cardiff (H)Bristol City (H)7 March 20172Kalvin Phillips vs Fulham (A)QPR (H), Brighton (H)11 March 20172Luke Ayling vs QPR (A)Brighton (H), Reading (A)1 April 20176Liam CooperViolent conduct vs Reading (A)Brentford (A), Preston (H), Newcastle (A), Wolves (H), Burton (A), Norwich (H)29 April 20173Pontus Jansson vs Norwich (H)Wigan (A)
References