The Last Champions

The triumph and tragedy of the Leeds team that won the First Division championship in 1992 -- and what happened next.

When the Leeds United players celebrated winning the championship at Bramall Lane on 26 April 1992, they could not have had an inkling of how momentous the occasion was. Manchester United, losers at Liverpool that sunny Sunday afternoon, had now gone 25 years without winning the league. Howard Wilkinson's side, promoted just two seasons ago, could bring back the glory days to Leeds. But Wilkinson would prove to be the last English manager to win the league. In 1992, football changed beyond all recognition.

Twenty years on, The Last Champions looks back in joy at the roots of that success but also in anger at the rollercoaster ride that has happened since. As in his acclaimed book The Fallen, Dave Simpson's quest to catch up with all the protagonists of the era, from the wily Wilkinson and top scorer Lee Chapman to the majestic midfield of Strachan, McAllister, Batty and Speed (not forgetting Eric Cantona, of course), sees him unearth some extraordinary untold stories. But he then begins to find Leeds to be a symbol of modern football times -- Premier League to Champions League, boom to very bust -- and asks, where did it all go wrong?

DAVE SIMPSON is a Guardian journalist who writes mainly on music. His first book, The Fallen, was a monumental quest to track down everyone who had ever played in Mark E Smith's legendary band. He is now applying those same forensic and possibly certifiable skills to his football team, Leeds United. Living in Yorkshire, he has supported Leeds since the early 1970s, man and boy, which has brought about a small amount of pleasure and a great amount of pain. He also was on board for the launch of the LeedsLeedsLeeds magazine which documented United's rise and mostly fall from 1997 to 2011.