When I was in school, back in the seventies, Leeds were certainly one of the big teams. I seem to recall that this all started after they lost the epic 1970 FA Cup Final to Chelsea. The game went to a replay at Old Trafford, and Chelsea eventually emerged as winners, but emerged Leeds as the hard-fighting underdog. Leeds were there or there-about for years after that, and they were robbed by some dreadful decisions in the 1975 European Cup Final, and this just seemed to cement the 'legend'.