From reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2001, the Elland Road club began a decline which has seen them become one of the great tragedies of modern football.

Here is how bad it got - statistically - this year and some of the factors that contributed to Leeds' fall from the top tier of English football.

Consider this - Leeds will probably end the season with less than 40 points.

In the 1999/2000 season, they finished with 69 points and qualified for Champions League football. Although they continued to finish in the top five, the introduction of four teams being able to qualify for the competition meant positions third and fourth were more sought after. Thus came Leeds' slide down the table.

Leeds have conceded 75 goals this season at an average of more than two a game.

Leeds have also had just two clean sheets and conceded more than two goals on 10 different occasions.

They let in just 37 goals in the 2001-2 season when Rio Ferdinand appeared in 31 of their 38 games. The centre-back was sold to Manchester United that summer.

Leeds have scored 37 goals this season, which along with Wolves, is the lowest amount scored by any club in the Premiership.

Their top scorer in the league is Mark Viduka with 11 goals. Alan Smith is next with eight, while Michael Duberry and James Milner have scored three goals apiece. No other Leeds player has scored more than two goals.

Viduka has been the key man for Leeds this season.

The team have lost just twice in the league when he has scored and lost both their leagues games when Viduka missed three weeks of the season on compassionate leave.

His goals have translated into 13 extra points for Leeds this season, while he has also made four of their other goals.

The Australian also managed to put the final dent into Leeds' bid to avoid relegation, being sent off at Bolton - the second time in three weeks he has been given his marching orders.

Harry Kewell, who scored 14 league goals for Leeds in the 2002/3 season, left the club at the start of the season to join Liverpool for �5m.

According to reports, the Elland Road club received just �3m of that fee. Along with Olivier Dacourt, who joined Roma for �3.5m, those were the only major departures at the start of the year.

The one permanent signing, Jody Morris, did not cost Leeds a fee but was forced to leave for disciplinary reasons in March. Eight loan signings were made at the start of the season.

The previous season, Leeds spent �2.75m on Nick Barmby, their only signing, while �53m worth of talent was sold in an attempt to balance the books.

Contrast that to the start of the 2000/1 season, when Leeds appeared in the Champions League for the first and only time - then manager David O'Leary spent over �36m on players, while sales totalled just over �9m.

In 2001, Leeds reached the semi-finals of the European Champions League. Only five of the side that lost to Valencia in that competition have appeared for Leeds this season.

During that season, 11 players - one goalkeeper, five defenders, three midfielders and two strikers - made over 20 appearances.

This season, just eight players - a goalkeeper, two defenders, three midfielders and two strikers - have made over 20 appearances. In total, 30 players have played for Leeds in the Premiership this season.

On 14 December 2001, Jonathan Woodgate was found of guilty of affray during an attack on a student in Leeds but both he and Lee Bowyer were cleared of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. Both were Leeds players at the time of the decision.

Ironically, in the time between the players' arrest on 18 January 2000 and when the trial ended, Leeds won 35, drew 18 and lost just 18.

Of the 97 league games they have played since, Leeds have won 33, drawn 18 and lost an astonishing 46.