<P> As champions of the final First Division season, Leeds United were one of the inaugural 22 clubs of the Premier League, the breakaway top division league competition formed in 1992 . Leeds had sustained success in the league in late 1990s, and ultimately reached the semi-finals of the 2000--01 Champions League . Their level of spending to do so however had exceeded all other clubs, and the club's debt level rose annually from £ 9m to £ 21m, £ 39m, £ 82m and peaked at around £ 119m, much of the money having been spent on transfer fees and players' wages . After the club failed to qualify for the 2002--03 Champions League by only finishing fifth in the Premier League, it had to make drastic savings by selling players as it could no longer sustain the debt repayments, which relied on the ticket sales and television income from the European competition . </P> <P> At the end of the 2003--04 FA Premier League season, Leeds United were relegated to the Football League Championship . The financial effects continued, and with one game to go in the 2006--07 season, the club voluntarily entered administration, incurring a 10 - point league penalty, resulting in relegation to League One, the first time the club had ever been in the third tier of English football . Subsequent breaches of financial rules in the summer nearly resulted in the club being expelled from the Football League altogether (a fate which coincidentally had befallen the club's predecessors, Leeds City), but they were ultimately re-admitted with a 15 - point penalty to apply to the 2007--08 season . Despite further appeals, the penalty stood and ultimately cost the club promotion that season . </P> <P> At the end of the 2009--10 season, the club was promoted back to the Championship after a final day victory . They have been in the Championship ever since, coming closest to earning promotion back to the Premier League in the 2016--17 season, where the club under the management of Garry Monk narrowly missed out on a play - off spot, finishing 7th in the league and earning their highest points total in a Championship season throughout their most recent period of tenure in the division . </P> <P> Leeds United's decline was not entirely without historical precedent, as Wolverhampton Wanderers had suffered a similarly high - profile decline in the 1980s, finishing 6th in the old First Division and winning the Football League Cup in 1980, before eventually dropping into the old Fourth Division by 1986 on the back of three consecutive relegations . Bristol City had become the first league team suffer three successive relegations when they went down to the Fourth Division in 1982, although their decline was less dramatic as that of Wolves, as they had spent just four seasons in the First Division and not been as successful or spent as much money on players . </P>

When was the last time leeds united was in the premier league