Leeds is an interesting story

As background information, Leeds was 3 points behind Sheffield United before this week's games for the second automatic qualifier with 2 games left to play. Sheffield had won on Saturday, which forced Leeds to win both their remaining games or go into a 4-team playoff for the last promotion spot. The unwritten rules of football demand that you kick the ball out of play if an opponent is seriously injured, and that the other team returns the ball to you at the restart of the game.

I remember one incident from 10-15 years ago when Arsenal beat a "minnow" in an FA qualifying game by a score of 2-1 when they scored a goal in a similar situation. Wegner being Wegner didn't even out the game and was vilified by the press and fans everywhere. Finally Arsenal "sportingly" asked the FA to declare the game a draw. Arsenal won the replay at the minnow's home field (a huge financial boost to that squad).

Leeds was in the EPL for about 8 years. The first years under George Graham they had to hunker down and play tough (rough) defense to avoid relegation. Eventually they started to accumulate a star cast (James Milner as a rookie, Rio Ferdinand before MU, Paul Robinson - England GK, Jonathon
Woodgate and Lee Bowyer. They were quite successful on the field generally finishing in the top 4 of the EPL under David O'Leary.

However, their younger players were involved in several incidents, accusations of rape (I think) and almost killing some local Muslim youths. They were severely undercapitalized and one year they finished out of the qualifying spots for Europe (and the financial bonanza that goes with it). They were forced to sell many of their top players and try to avoid relegation and bankruptcy. - much like Portsmouth later. Until recently Leeds seemed to be following the path of Coventry City, Bradford, Derby Count, Wimbledon, and others who fell out of the Pl never to return - unlike Middlesboro and Sunderland who have yoyo-ed between leagues.