If you want an indication of how far Leeds United have come as a football club, you’ve only got to dive back into the archives and read up on their time in the EFL.

Leeds are taking the Premier League by storm now under Marcelo Bielsa, but 16 years of woe in the EFL is just beneath the surface at Elland Road.

There were dark days under Ken Bates and GFH, but the club’s most bizarre spell probably came when Massimo Cellino was at the helm as chairman.

After a eventually getting hold of the squad towards the end of 2013/14 and then eventually getting rid of Brian McDermott as his head coach, Cellino embarked on the 2014/15 campaign looking to put his stamp on Leeds.

A sea of European players were signed, alongside a handful of domestic players. Brought in to coach them? Not a household name, but former Forest Green Rovers coach, Dave Hockaday.

Eyebrows were raised at the appointment and it’s safe to say that ‘The Hock’ didn’t last long at Elland Road.

His tenure got off to a woeful start against Millwall, which is the feature of this article as we take a look at the starting XI that day that lost 2-0 to Ian Holloway’s side…

Silvestri was signed that summer and arrived at Elland Road to become Hockaday’s first choice goalkeeper.

However, the Italian never convinced at Elland Road despite retaining the gloves for the best part of two seasons with Leeds.

In total, Silvestri made 88 appearances for Leeds in the Championship and a further 10 appearances in the cup competitions.

Leaving for Verona in the summer of 2017, Silvestri remains with the Serie A outfit and has made 65 appearances for them in all competitions.

That spell has been eventful too, with relegation and promotion on Silvestri’s CV. Nevertheless, he appears to have improved since his days at Elland Road.

Byram had burst out of the academy under Neil Warnock and, by this point, was a first-team regular with Leeds.

He was the only academy player to feature from the off at Millwall, but was joined by Dom Poleon and Lewis Cook later in the day. By the end of the season, Cook, Alex Mowatt and Charlie Taylor were the heartbeat of the team and Kalvin Phillips had even debuted.

However, Byram would not stick around for long after 2014/15, joining West Ham United in the January of 2016.

He’s since joined Norwich City, but injuries have really halted the development of an outstanding full-back.

Wootton was a regular for Leeds around this time, making 23 appearances for the club in 2014/15 and 2015/16, as well as having a brief loan with Rotherham United over that time.

Moving on as a free agent in 2018, Wootton would head for MK Dons, who he made 47 appearances for.

Plymouth Argyle was Wootton’s next club, with 68 more appearances in the EFL for the former Manchester United man.

Now, Wootton is back in the North of England and playing for Wigan Athletic in League One.

He has made nine appearances in League One for the Latics and scored the winning goal in a 2-1 win over Bristol Rovers last month.

Pearce had been signed by Warnock a couple of summers before Hockaday arrived at Elland Road.

He’d featured regularly too for Leeds, but wouldn’t last the season at Elland Road despite starting at Millwall on the opening day.

In January, not long after Leeds’ win over Bournemouth, Pearce moved to Wigan Athletic after 113 appearances for the club.

He made 49 appearances for the Latics, before linking up with Charlton Athletic, where Pearce still plays.

In total, Pearce has managed 135 appearances for the Addicks, including home and away against Leeds last season in the Championship.

This year he’s clocked up 15 appearances for the club.

Warnock was a really consistent player at Leeds around this time, providing a real steady presence at left-back for the club.

In total, he made 67 appearances for Leeds before moving on to Derby County as Taylor progressed out of the Elland Road academy and eventually became the club’s got-to option on the left of defence.

Derby, Wigan, Burton Albion and Bradford City got the back end of the left-back’s career, before he retired and moved into punditry.

Now, you can see Warnock on Sky Sports (and other platforms) regularly, giving his views on the Premier League and EFL.

Austin had been with Leeds since the summer of 2012 and 2014/15 did prove to be the midfielder’s final season at Elland Road.

He made 31 appearances that season for the Whites, taking him to a total of 112 for the club, with 10 goals to match from midfield and a stint as the club’s captain.

Brondby was Austin’s next destination, before the Jamaican international moved to Esbjerg, who he played in the Europa League for.

There was a point when it looked like Austin would pick up another English club in his career, but work permit issues denied the midfielder the chance to sign for Sheffield Wednesday.

Tonge was another player signed by Warnock for Leeds, with the two former Sheffield United men linking up together at Elland Road.

The midfielder would make 76 appearances for Leeds and score five goals, including a long-range stunner against Sheffield Wednesday.

Like so many others, 2014/15 proved to be his final season at Leeds and, despite starting the loss at Millwall, his final appearance for the club came on Boxing Day.

Millwall, Stevenage and Port Vale got the back end of the midfielder’s career.

Tonge recently moved into coaching and returned to West Yorkshire to link up with Huddersfield Town.

Murphy’s Leeds career got off to a good start under Brian McDermott, but by the time this game kicked off in 2014/15, there were question marks over the midfielder’s consistency levels.

A red card at Bradford in the League Cup in Hockaday’s final game in-charge made Murphy something of a scapegoat at Elland Road, but the caring arm of Neil Redfearn offered him redemption later in 2014/15.

He would make 111 appearances for Leeds before joining Burton Albion on loan for a couple of spells.

Bolton Wanderers were his next permanent destination and, back in the summer, Murphy linked up with Crewe.

Coincidently, they are the club Leeds signed Murphy from.

Ajose was actually quite an exciting signing in the summer of 2014, with Leeds picking him up from Peterborough United after 17 goals in 2013/14.

However, this proved to be the first of only three starts he made for Leeds.

In total, Ajose made just four appearances for the club before heading out on loan to Crewe.

He scored eight goals there and was signed by Swindon in 2015. He scored 25 goals for the club and earned a move to Charlton.

However, things didn’t work out for the forward there, with Swindon, Bury and Mansfield his loan destinations.

Right now, Ajose is on the books at Exeter City.

He’s featured only nine times this season and has scored just a single goal for the Grecians.

Hunt struggled to replicate the form he showed at Reading during his time at Leeds and proved to be a disappointing signing.

This start at Millwall was one of only 14 he made in the Championship for the club and he failed to score a goal in that time.

Ipswich Town, Southend, Portsmouth, Wigan and Waterhead got the remainder of Hunt’s career, with reports recently linking the Irishman with a return to the former.

Paul Cook has been named as Ipswich manager, with a report from the East Anglian Daily Times suggesting that Hunt could become part of his coaching set-up at Portman Road.

Doukara was a new name on the teamsheet under Hockaday and despite failing to fire at Millwall – a certain Lewis Cook replaced him that day – he did score five goals that season for Leeds.

14 goals were clocked up over the course of his Leeds career, with Doukara managing to dust himself down after the ‘Sicknote Six’ incident and play a big part under Garry Monk - scoring an incredible goal against Nottingham Forest.

However, he didn’t last the summer of 2017 and has played for Osmanlispor, Antalyaspor and Ettifaq FC since leaving Elland Road.

He scored 16 goals for Antalyaspor in 2018/19.

Hockaday’s stint as Leeds boss was doomed from the start and after this defeat to Millwall, things got worse for the former Forest Green Rovers man.

Leeds would beat Middlesbrough and Accrington Stanley, but losses to Brighton and Hove Albion and Watford had Hockaday on the brink with Cellino. A loss to Bradford City in the League Cup led to his sacking.

Hockaday would later get a stint as caretaker at Coventry City, but it is safe to say that a job as high-profile as the Leeds one has not presented itself to the 63-year-old since.

Darko Milanic and Neil Redfearn were Leeds’ other coaches this season.

Cellino stayed associated with Leeds right through until 2017.

He worked his way through the likes of Hockaday, Milanic, Redfearn, Uwe Rosler, Steve Evans and Monk, before eventually signing the club over to Andrea Radrizzani.

The rest is history in Leeds, but for Cellino, he’s now involved with Brescia.

Cellino oversaw their promotion to Serie A, but last season they were relegated back into Serie B and are now coached by Monk’s former assistant, Pep Clotet.

Recently, footage has emerged of Cellino coaching from the sidelines after Clotet’s dismissal.

He never went that far with Leeds, but you always felt he had that in him…