FLW’s Leeds United fan pundit gives their selection of the club’s 12 greatest strikers
Throughout the club’s 104-year history, Leeds United fans have always known what it takes for a player to be a cult figure or at Elland Road.
In the midst of the club’s greatest sides, the centre-forwards have played pivotal roles in the club’s successes.
We’re turning the clock back for Leeds fans, as our fan pundit Kris Smith has chosen his top 12 greatest Leeds strikers.
12) Eric Cantona
The infamous Eric Cantona gets us underway.
The Whites would acquire his services from French outfit Nimes in January 1992, initially on loan before making the deal permanent weeks later.
As a result of low match fitness, Cantona only made 15 appearances between then and the end of the season, where Leeds would become the final champions of the old First Division. The Frenchman’s contributions mainly came as assists for Lee Chapman, but he would also score three times against Luton, Spurs and Chelsea.
He would then score a hat-trick in a 4-3 Charity Shield win over Liverpool, as well as the first ever Premier League hat-trick in a 5-0 success over Spurs.
However, a mistake in a first-leg defeat by Stuttgart in the European Cup would begin a rift between himself and Howard Wilkinson. In their 2-1 home defeat by Rangers, Cantona would walk straight down the tunnel after being substituted, only increasing tensions. After further unrest, Cantona his desire to leave for Arsenal or Manchester United, and his wish would be granted as he joined the Red Devils in November 1992.
11) Luciano Becchio
A cult figure in Leeds’ rise out of League One, Luciano Becchio featured 221 times for the club, scoring 87 times across a four-and-a-half year period.
Joining in 2008 after impressing Gary McAllister on trial, the Argentine would make an immediate impression, scoring after just 25 seconds in his first league start at Yeovil Town, before scoring on his home debut in a 4-0 win against Crystal Palace. In his first season, he would score 19 goals in all competitions as Leeds were defeated by Millwall in the play-off semi-finals.
The following season saw Becchio feature less due to various circunmstances, but still scored 15 as Leeds won automatic promotion. He would also score in an FA Cup replay against Tottenham Hotspur.
He would score the first Leeds goal in the second tier for three-and-a-half years on the opening day of 10/11 against Derby County, and after a substitute 17-minute hat-trick against Bristol City in the November, won the Championship PFA Player of the Month. He would reach 50 goals after scoring against Portsmouth, as well as marking his 100th appearance for Leeds with a goal against Barnsley. Becchio would end the season with 20 goals.
In 2011/12, the striker would only manage 11 goals as a result of a hamstring injury limiting appearances, before becoming the 10th highest league scorer in club history on New Year’s Day 2013, scoring his 76th. He would leave the club just weeks later, agreeing to join Norwich after submitting a transfer request.
10) Jermaine Beckford
Beckford joined Leeds from Non-League Wealdstone in March 2006, but his Leeds career would kickstart later on.
He scored his first competitive goal for the club on 18th August 2007 in a 4-1 rout against Southend, and would score 20 in 40 league starts, winning League One Player of the Season as Leeds would go from a -15 deficit to the play-off final, before losing to Doncaster.
The following season, Beckford would add another 34 goals in all competitions, as well as his first hat-trick against Chester City and 10 goals in 8 starts.
In December of the following season, Beckford became of interest to Newcastle United after scoring 18 goals by this point, and submitted a transfer request. His biggest moments in a Whites shirt were to follow though, scoring a famous winner at Old Trafford to knock out Manchester United in the FA Cup Third Round, as well as a double against Spurs. The Jamaican also scored the final goal of Leeds’ season in a 2-1 comeback victory against Bristol Rovers at Elland Road, securing automatic promotion.
After a total of 85 goals in 152 appearances for Leeds, the striker would join Everton on a free transfer.
9) Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink
Joining Leeds from Portuguese side Boavista in 1997, the Dutchman would score 42 times in 87 appearances.
In his first season, Hasselbaink would only score five times before Christmas, including on debut against Arsenal, before ending up on 26 goals in all competitions.
He would continue his fine form throughout the 1998/99 campaign, scoring 18 times in 36 Premier League appearances, a joint high with Michael Owen and Dwight Yorke, as well as a further two in domestic and European competition.
After qualifying for the UEFA Cup, Hasselbaink and his agent were left unsatisfied by the Whites’ contract offer, and he would depart for Atletico Madrid.
8) Rod Wallace
Wallace joined Leeds from Southampton in the lead to the 1991/92 season, where he would score 11 times as the club won the First Division ahead of Manchester United.
The forward stuck out for seven years at Elland Road, where he also won the Charity Shield in 1992. His best scoring season at the club would come in 1993/94, scoring 17 times in 37 appearances, as well as 13 goals in 39 during his final season. Overall he would score 66 times in 257 outings before joining Rangers.
7) Alan Smith
Smith began his career with Leeds after coming through the academy ranks. He would score three minutes into his debut, coming on as a substitute in a 3-1 away win at Liverpool, before scoring a further six goals in the remainder of the 1998/99 season.
His best scoring season in a Whites shirt would come in 2000/01, where he would accumulate 18 goals in 52 appearances as Leeds reached the Champions League semi-finals, before losing to Valencia, where Smith was sent off in the second leg.
In November 2002, the hometown boy scored 4 goals in a UEFA Cup victory against Hapoel Tel-Aviv, before becoming the first player in Leeds history to win back-to-back Player of the Season awards.
Following the club’s relegation in 2004, Smith was sold in controversial circumstances to rivals Manchester United.
6) Lee Chapman
Chapman joined Leeds in 1990, and scored 12 goals in his first 21 outings as Leeds won the Second Division title.
His and the club’s upward trajectory would continue, as the striker would score 31 goals in 54 appearances the following season as Leeds finished 4th, including a hat-trick in a 5-4 defeat to Liverpool, becoming the first player to score a top-flight hat-trick for Leeds in a decade.
In Leeds’ title success of 1991/92, Chapman scored a further 16 league goals, including hat-tricks against Sheffield Wednesday and Wimbledon. He added another 14 in 1992/93 as the club’s top scorer, but left for Portsmouth.
5) Tony Yeboah
The scorer of two remarkable Leeds United goals is next up, as Tony Yeboah accumulated 32 strikes in 66 appearances after joining from Eintracht Frankfurt in January 1995.
Leeds would qualify for the UEFA Cup at the end of the season, with the Ghanaian making an instant impact with 12 goals in 21 league appearances.
In his second season, Yeboah would add 19 goals in all competitions, including memorable strikes against Wimbledon and Liverpool, winning back-to-back Goal of The Month awards as well as club Player of the Year.
He would fail to score in 7 appearances across 1996/97 and was sold to Hamburger SV.
4) Mark Viduka
The Aussie joined David O’Leary’s side in preparation for the 2000/01 campaign from Celtic, and would last four years at Elland Road.
Viduka scored 22 goals in 53 appearances in all competitions during his first season, including all 4 in a 4-3 win at home to Liverpool, a game which Leeds were 2-0 and 2-3 down in prior to his strikes. After an impressive debut season, he was subject to interest from both AC Milan and Manchester United, although a move failed to materialise. He would add 16 goals across all competitions in 2001/02 as Leeds secured a UEFA Cup place.
As the club began its slide down the Premier League table, finishing just 5 points clear of the drop zone in 2002/03, Viduka enjoyed his most prolific season, netting 20 league goals which effectively secured the Whites’ top-flight status.
However, this wasn’t replicated the following season, as in his final game for the club, Leeds suffered a 4-1 defeat at Bolton, ending a 14-year spell in the top division. Amid a subsequent financial crisis, Viduka was one of many stars who would depart, joining Middlesbrough.
3) Mick Jones
Jones joined Leeds from Yorkshire rivals Sheffield United in 1967, and would spend 8 years at Elland Road as part of Don Revie’s dominant side.
In his first season the club would lift the first of two Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, defeating Hungarian outfit Ferencvaros over two legs, with Jones scoring the only goal.
The striker would then hit 14 goals as Leeds won the First Division title, before the beginning of his strike partnership with Allan Clarke. He would score twice in the FA Cup Final and subsequent replay against Chelsea in 1970, which Leeds lost.
Jones further preserved his status as a cult hero by scoring a hat-trick in a 5-1 demoltion of Manchester United in 1972, before assisting Allan Clarke to score the only goal of the FA Cup Final.
He would add another 14 goals as Leeds won the 1973/74 title, but missed the entirety of the following campaign as the Whites lost the European Cup Final to Bayern Munich.
2) John Charles
Charles joined Leeds in 1948, aged just 17 and would leave as the club’s second-highest goalscorer 9 years later.
He made his league debut for the club in 1949, surprisingly as a defender, before moving to centre-forward in 1952.
His best form for the club came between 1953 and 1957, where he was also captain of the club, firstly breaking a club record with 42 goals in 39 appearances in 1953/54.
He added to this with a further 29 goals in 42 appearances in 1955/56 as Leeds won promotion, before breaking a club top-flight record with 38 goals in 40 appearances as they finished 8th.
Subsequently, he was sold to Juventus for a then English record of £65,000, but his legacy is etched within Leeds United, with one of the Elland Road stands named in his honour. He scored 150 goals for the Whites, second only to Peter Lorimer.
1) Allan Clarke
Clarke tops this list, being another key figure in Revie’s all-conquering outfit, as he enjoyed a 9-year spell at Leeds.
In his first season, Clarke would net 26 goals, before etching himself in club folklore with goals against Juventus and Arsenal to win Leeds the Inter-Cities Fairs and FA Cups of 1971/72, but the club’s pursuit of a ‘double’ came unstuck.
The centre-forward netted 13 as the club’s top scorer in their title winning season of 1973/74, which included a 29-game unbeaten run.
Clarke was on the end of a controversial decision in Leeds’ 2-0 European Cup Final defeat in Paris, where he was fouled by Franz Beckenbaur. Revie’s side would begin to break up afterward, but Clarke remained a Leeds player until 1978, scoring a further 23 goals, taking his overall tally for the club to 151 goals in 366 appearances.
