United's board had bitten a tasteless bullet 10 days earlier by removing Billy Bremner from the manager's position, but a short delay in announcing his replacement – who would soon be revealed as Howard Wilkinson – strengthened the mood of discontent among their fanbase.

An attendance of 15,657 watched the Division Two match against Watford, a figure which fell 7,000 below the average recorded at Elland Road for the 1987-88 campaign, and a fourth successive league defeat sparked an impromptu post-match protest in the car park behind the stadium's West Stand.

The anger of those fans involved was directed as Leslie Silver, the club's chairman who was working to secure Wilkinson's release from Sheffield Wednesday and whose Rolls-Royce was damaged during the protest.

"At our previous home game, the fans chanted for the sacking of Billy Bremner," said Silver, referring to Leeds' 2-0 defeat to Chelsea on September 24.

"This time there was no manager so they turned on me. It does not worry me but I can understand their frustration after four successive defeats.

No-one wants Leeds to do well more than me."

The ace up Silver's sleeve was the appointment of Wilkinson two days after the defeat to Watford, putting in place a young but promising manager who had guided Sheffield Wednesday out of the second division in his first season in charge at Hillsborough.

The need for new direction was clear after an extended run of damaging results which crippled United's prospects of reaching Division One, and the falling crowds at Elland Road were an acute reflection of a lack of optimism in and around Leeds.

A 1-0 defeat to Watford was not in itself an appalling result – the Hornets were a capable team who sat at the top of Division Two on the day of their visit to Yorkshire and went on to finish fourth in the table – but the accumulation of defeats had caused a unanimous loss of patience at Elland Road.

The irony of the protests which Silver faced as he walked out of the stadium was that the afternoon had started extremely positively.

An early header from Bobby Davison flew beyond the post after Vince Hilaire evaded two defenders and found his strike partner with a deft cross, and Ian Baird came within inches of opening the scoring as a low cross slid narrowly beyond his out-stretched boot.

Watford goalkeeper Tony Cotton then denied John Stiles with a diving save in the 20th minute, but United's early ascendancy inexplicably vanished.

The visitors waited patiently to gain control of the midfield, and they were dominating the fixture when Glyn Hodges rose above Neil Aspin to head home the game's only goal on 62 minutes.

Stiles almost forced an equaliser when his shot brought a brilliant block from Cotton, but United keeper Mervyn Day had more involvement during the final half-hour and twice denied Gary Porter before parrying a point-blank header from Luther Blissett.

As Leeds' supporters demonstrated outside the stadium afterwards, many were unaware that the appointment of Wilkinson was virtually complete, and though Silver travelled home with his Rolls-Royce dented, his masterstroke of an appointment soon restored peace.

LEEDS: Day, Aspin, Adams, Stiles (Snodin 70), Blake, Rennie, Batty, Sheridan, Baird, Davison (Pearson 80), Hilaire.

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Sheff Wed 3 Leeds 1, Division Two Hillsborough, Saturday October 8, 1983

LEEDS United's defeat to Sheffield Wednesday was not the rout which many had feared would take place at Hillsborough, but a fifth straight defeat did nothing to lift the despondent mood surrounding Eddie Gray's squad.

United's worst sequence of results for 26 years had exposed a severe lack of confidence among the club's players, and it was a measure of their problems that a 3-1 loss to Wednesday was greeted in certain quarters with a grim sense of relief.

The Owls had started the Division Two season strongly and would later win promotion to the first division, losing the title to Chelsea on goal difference alone.

Three straight wins preceded their Yorkshire derby against Leeds, and United's fortunes could not have been more different.

Their warm-up for a difficult visit to Hillsborough had been a brutal 5-1 hammering at Shrewsbury seven days earlier, and a 12th-minute opener at Hillsborough increased the visitors' anxiety.

Mike Lyons' knock-down from a free-kick allowed Gary Shelton to shoot through a crowded penalty area, and despite a rousing team-talk from Gray at half-time, John Pearson's header two minutes in the second period gave Wednesday a reassuring cushion.

Leeds fought back briefly, applying pressure to their hosts and pulling a goal back through a Frank Gray penalty after George McCluskey was fouled inside the box.

But after Frank Gray saw a header disallowed on 67 minutes, 19-year-old Owls striker Chris Morris glanced home a cross from Mel Sterland to stall United's response.

LEEDS: Harvey, Hird, F Gray, Watson (Barnes 75), Burns, Dickinson, Sheridan, McCluskey, Ritchie, Donnelly, Thomas.

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Leeds 1 Sunderland 2
League Cup second round second leg
Elland Road, Wednesday October 6, 1993

AS a schoolboy, Don Goodman was rejected by Leeds United on account of his height, and the under-sized forward did not shy away from opportunities to remind the club of their decision.

Goodman developed a profitable habit of scoring against Leeds, and his strikes in both legs of a Coca-Cola Cup tie between United and Sunderland in 1993 eliminated Howard Wilkinson's Division One side from the tournament.

The former Elland Road ball-boy helped to establish Sunderland's 2-1 lead after the first clash on Wearside, and his 17th-minute effort during the return leg in Yorkshire put a place in round three beyond the reach of Wilkinson's team.

Goodman's goal was a simple header from close in and United's deficit increased further when Phil Gray took advantage of a risky back-pass by Jon Newsome and beat keeper Mark Beeney.

Noel Whelan's consolatory reply on 56 minutes came too late to rescue the tie.

Whelan controlled a cross from Gary Kelly and finished off United's attack with a neat finish, but the evening belonged to United's visitors.

LEEDS: Beeney, Kelly, Dorigo, Wetherall (Rocastle 60), Newsome, Fairclough, Strachan (Strandli 70), Whelan, Deane, McAllister, Speed. Sub: Lukic.