Gradually, however, Evans won some supporters round and earned grudging respect for the steadying hand he brought to the tiller. He found enough form and points to make 2015/16 an uneventful season with hints of neither promotion nor relegation, all that could really be hoped for in the circumstances. There was never any way Evans was going to be given the opportunity to take Leeds onto the next level, however, and Cellino cut him adrift in the summer with an absence of either gratitude or respect.

The uncertainty left a distraught Evans stumbling tearfully through a press conference after the penultimate game at Preston.

The axe fell on 31 May, with Cellino saying that 'a different approach is required in order to achieve our targets for the new season.'

Evans' dismissal led to a history-changing moment for Leeds United Football Club as former Swansea manager Garry Monk walked through the doors of Elland Road as head coach.

The whole atmosphere around the club changed almost overnight with a new credibility and improved supporter relations. The club benefited immeasurably from the stability provided by Monk, an honest to goodness decent manager given a full season, the first individual to be accorded the luxury since Simon Grayson in 2011/12.

Monk had his faults; his testy shove of Huddersfield manager David Wagner in a high-stakes local derby in February proved as much, but he steadied the ship and had everyone pulling in the same direction.

Monk and his assistant, James Beattie, coaxed the form of his life out of New Zealand international Chris Wood. He just couldn't stop scoring, his 27 goals the best in the Championship.

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Monk made his first foray into management in February 2014, stepping in as interim player-manager and securing Swansea's top-flight status. He was sacked in December 2015 following a run of one win in eleven.

It was the second time that Massimo Cellino had gone for a manager of any status in Britain, the first being Uwe Rosler. He had mainly gone for the cheap (Redfearn and Evans), the obscure (Milanic) or a combination of both (Hockaday).

Possibly the only reason for the difference in outcomes for Rosler and Monk was the presence of a steadying hand behind the scenes.

Adam Pearson was there when Rosler was appointed but departed a month before Cellino unceremoniously dismissed the German.

In Monk's case, the Italian was poised with the axe after just two games until The Conscience whispered in his ear. He again came close to the axe after a fortunate victory over struggling Blackburn on 13 September but for some reason Cellino took the counsel of The Conscience.

Monk, who was given a one-year rolling contract and brought with him his support team of Beattie and Pep Clotet, had seen an opportunity at Elland Road where others could detect only trouble.

When the call came from Cellino, Monk had been five months out of work, analysing and refining his approach to management, visiting Sevilla and their former coach Unai Emery. There was a desire to learn from his experience at Swansea, to understand how and why things went wrong and to reinforce what went well.

Leeds had toiled under Evans, the fifth appointment of Cellino's controversial reign, and the longest-serving. Karl Robinson and Darrell Clarke both turned down the job, so Monk's readiness to take on the role came as a surprise to many.

'I can honestly tell you that I don't worry about that,' said Monk of the Italian's reputation. 'If you worry about all of that, you'll never take a job anywhere and I want to be challenged. It's one of the biggest clubs in the country.

'Whichever situation you find yourself in, a manager will always be defined by his results. That's the only time an owner will ever want to get involved, when the results aren't right. That's the same at every single club in every league across the world. I'm not thinking: "What would happen if I left the club and wasn't told this or that?" Who cares about that?

'It feels great to be here. I'm extremely honoured to join Leeds United Football Club - we all know the history of the club and the standing it has in English football. I feel really honoured to be here and I'm really looking forward to the challenge ahead.

'The passion of the fans, the history and the ambition of the owner all ties in with what I wanted to do. I want to be challenged and really get my teeth into a big project. That was the underlying factor throughout the whole process and that's the reason why I'm here today. This is definitely the right challenge for me and I'm really happy to be here.'

'I'm very pleased to welcome Garry Monk,' said Cellino. 'Garry is part of a new generation of coaches in England and has a lot of potential to develop, which is something we were targeting for the new season. I believe he's very suited to continuing the growth of our young and improving team. He will bring new strengths and a lot of energy to the squad. He was a fighter as a player and now he's the same as a manager - as we saw when he did very well at Swansea City. I feel he can really bring the best out of the team.

'It is a big challenge but Garry is very determined and he trusts himself with this job - he really wanted to come here. That is something which has impressed me a lot. We have chosen to take on the challenge together and we are focused on achieving our goals in the new season.'

For a club where rancour and regret had been watchwords for years, 2016 hit new lows in antagonism. Mock funerals for Cellino were held before games and a series of images were beamed on to a stand calling on the Italian to go.

All appeared calm as Monk, with a one-year contract in his back pocket, oversaw his first training session and, while the sale of Lewis Cook to Bournemouth caused some disquiet, Monk called for a united front.

'I remember coming here as a player and there was a siege mentality. I was on the pitch and it was incredible,' said Monk of playing against Leeds in the League One years. 'That's the mentality we need to get, that same attitude of everyone in it together, the fans, the players, the staff, everyone at the club. It's us against everyone else and we have to give our young squad the best opportunity to perform. The best way to do that is for everyone to be together.

'Whatever the opinions are, they haven't got us anywhere in recent history. What do we do? Keep doing the same or try and change it. It isn't just the fans. It's everyone. It's the staff, players, everyone's mentality has to change. If we can pull together, no matter who makes a mistake or who doesn't, that will give us the best chance as a club.

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'I'd heard all the stories like everyone else. But as soon as I'd met him and had discussions with him, I was very impressed. The way he spoke, the ideas he has, the direct questions that I asked him and the answers that he gave, he was excellent. Speaking to him, he's a very passionate man. One thing that can't be denied is how passionate he is about this club.

'Every single owner, at every single club, they all want to know everything. They all want to be involved, they all want to have an understanding of what's going on at their club. They have every right to know what's going on from the bottom to the top. That's football nowadays.

'It was nice to sit down and speak with someone who understands football. He's been a chairman and owner for over 30 years, so he knows a lot about football. He understood how I worked. It just felt right.'

Monk had a clutch of new players at his disposal including the highly-rated Kemar Roofe from Oxford United and he returned to Swansea for loan additions including midfielder Matt Grimes and defender Kyle Bartley. He also recruited Robert Green, Pontus Jansson, Luke Ayling, Liam Bridcutt, and Eunan O'Kane and brought in another former Swansea man, playmaker Pablo Hernandez, signed on a six-month loan from Al-Arabi.

Jansson, a Swedish international centre-back, had an extraordinary impact, following his early-season arrival from Torino, initially on loan. The word for him was 'Inspiring' with his dominance at the heart of the defence, albeit that his displays were boosted heavily by the sound partnership he formed with Bartley.

Jansson was a key figure, 'central to Leeds' rise', according to Rob Bagchi in the Daily Telegraph. 'It's very rare for a player to come along and embody the way a club's fans feel about it, to look like the kind of player they would themselves hope to be. Billy Bremner was one, of course, David Batty, Luciano Becchio at times, and now Jansson. He has improved Leeds immeasurably and it is extraordinary what a galvanising effect his competence, confidence, commitment, and volubility have made … He has brought a sense of enjoyment back and is venerated for his willingness to get stuck in, some thunderous swearing, and tremendous heading power. Give the people a cause and someone to personify it and you're halfway there.'

Jansson had a song dedicated to him, the legendary Magic Hat, which proclaimed that 'if you throw a brick at him, he'll head the f***er back.'

Roofe, too, would be a key man, although it took a while for him to show why Leeds had been willing to pay Oxford £3 million for his signature.

At 37, Monk was still a fledgling manager but his thirst for knowledge and improvement was clear and he was keen to harness United's ambition rather than be burdened by their history.

'It was probably more difficult to manage at Swansea than it is being here,' said Monk. 'I have a refined way of working in terms of what I do and I'm able to do it with a blank canvas.

'It's a young and hungry group of players with huge potential and we are trying to build a culture within the club. I think the players see that and it's important that the fans see that as well, then you can start to create something. That's the only way you can get out of these leagues and get success, promotions. I felt that as a player and have seen that as a manager.

'Coming in here, I already feel a better manager, but we all know that as a manager none of that will matter unless we get the results that are needed. We're under no illusions. The challenge here is massive. But we're going to do everything we can to try and get promoted.

'I'm not a manager that wants to go from club to club taking the easy route. I want to pick a big challenge in my career and this is one of them. It was an easy decision because of the challenge that it is.'

Despite Monk's arrival being warmly welcomed as a bit of a coup for Cellino, the early signs weren't particularly promising. The events of the season's opening weekend had at least one supporter declaring, 'Ah well, there's always next season …'

Monk gave debuts to Green, Bartley, Grimes and Roofe and recalled Berardi at right-back, though he'd seen little action in pre-season because of a leg injury. The rest was as expected: Bartley and Bamba in defence with the wantaway Charlie Taylor; Diagouraga, Vieira, Grimes, Dallas and Roofe in midfield and Chris Wood up front with Monk choosing 4-2-3-1.

Four minutes in and Keystone Kops defending by Leeds gave the home side a comedy opener from a corner. Green flapped at the ball when he should have taken everything out. The fault was not his alone - Bamba lost his man and then got in Green's way.

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As the half drew on, the mood of the travelling fans grew dark. Grimes barely getting a touch, pointless long balls to Wood, their left winger tearing Berardi a new hole and everyone looking seriously unfit.

Vieira was excused from the criticism and looked good, although he bundled down a Rangers man to give away a penalty in the second half. The agony was complete when Polter's last-minute shot from a narrow angle seemed to just go through Green at the near post.

'Fer F***'s sake!' was the general response. 'Odds-on some panic buys next week and Monk gone by November.'

That prediction so nearly came true.

United lost their opening two Championship games and Monk was apparently one minute away from the sack after four matches. Many believed that he would have lost his job had Antonsson not scored an 89th minute equaliser in their League Cup-tie with Fleetwood. The Whites went on to win on penalties after a game that was most notable for the contribution of debutant Pablo Hernandez who brought quality and intelligence to the midfield, his undoubted class oozing out of every pore.

It should have been no surprise, for the 31-year-old had a strong pedigree. He came through the youth ranks at Valencia and scored against Manchester United in the Champions League at Old Trafford in 2010. Two years later, he signed for Swansea in a £5.5 million deal and helped them to lift the Capital One Cup a year later, playing alongside Monk.

Hernandez moved to Qatar with Al-Arabi the following summer as part of Monk's rebuilding plans, but the manager knew exactly how good Hernandez was and what he could do. Against Fleetwood, it was almost as if he was from another planet, head and shoulders above his colleagues, his quickness of thought and intelligence marking him out as a game changer.

Leeds lost four of their opening six Championship games and Monk reacted angrily when asked by BBC Radio Leeds about Cellino's opinion of his progress, Monk snapped, 'That's none of your business. I'm not going to give someone else's opinion, you have to ask the man himself.'

One could almost hear the Italian's trigger finger, but Cellino was in discussion with a new investor who advocated strongly for Monk, patience, and perseverance.

The manager was horrified by the performance at Loftus Road and especially the contributions of Bamba, Diagouraga and Grimes, with whom he quickly dispensed. Bamba left for Cardiff, his contract cancelled by mutual consent, and Diagouraga was loaned out to Ipswich after Christmas. Grimes remained at Elland Road but was confined to Cup games and the Championship bench.

Antonsson's was also a fitful presence, despite two goals in his first five games, as Monk's thinking settled on 4-2-3-1 as his formation of choice with Wood as lone striker.

The season turned on a victory at Sheffield Wednesday on 20 August. Despite losing the next two Championship matches, United recorded 7 wins from the following ten and the 3-2 victory at Norwich on 5 November left Leeds 6th.

Newcastle and Brighton were pulling away from the pack in the automatic promotion spots but just nine points covered the next 15 clubs.

Leeds were shaping up nicely with Wood leading the line strongly with eight goals from 16 Championship games. He had also netted three times in the EFL Cup. The defence had knitted well with Green recovering his form and Jansson and Bartley forming a decent partnership. Ayling, who knew Bartley well from their time together in Arsenal's youth team, and Taylor were fixtures on the flanks, despite the latter rejecting the offer of a new contract and setting his mind on a move when his contract ended at the end of the season.

24-year-old Ayling wasn't a big name and appeared almost out of nowhere, but Monk desperately needed a specialist right-back and had been impressed by Ayling's strong raiding wing-back displays as he helped Bristol City retain their Championship status. That he was strong defensively and could provide cover at centre-back were added bonuses and the £750,000 fee was considered a snip by Monk. 'Bill' soon became a stalwart of the team.

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Ayling's nickname came from his scholar days at Arsenal. 'Everybody got called Bill in the youth team,' he recalled. 'I don't know why, it was just like you are Billy tall, you are Billy this, you are Billy that and I don't know why … After we all split up the boys went back to their normal names but for some reason every time I saw one of my mates from the youth team they would just still call me Bill.

'I went to Yeovil and there were people there that I knew, so they called me Bill. I went to Bristol City and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Luke Freeman were there, so they called me Bill and then I came up here and Kyle was here so I just said look, lads, my name is Luke, but you call me Bill.'

In midfield, Hernandez had proven a quality signing and Monk was expected to make the move permanent after Christmas. The manager had secured Eunan O'Kane on a free transfer from Bournemouth, who was normally alongside him with French speed merchant Hadi Sacko and Roofe. Vieira, Phillips, Dallas, Mowatt and Antonsson competed for the remaining berth and club captain Liam Bridcutt was back to fitness and set to take the defensive midfield spot.

With leaders Newcastle at Elland Road on 5 November, Leeds had the chance to press their promotion claims.

Fans of both sides in a sell-out 36,000 crowd shared a minute's applause on 11 minutes to mark the fifth anniversary of the death of Gary Speed, who had played for both clubs. That was as far as the charity went and Dwight Gayle pounced to volley home when Rob Green failed to cope with a cross-shot.

Leeds rallied but Gayle's second after 54 minutes sealed Newcastle's eighth win in a row.

Garry Monk bemoaned the denial of what he claimed as a clear cut penalty and told BBC Radio Leeds, 'We fell the wrong side of the critical moments, they started well in the first 20 minutes but even then we defended well and we gave them agoal but after that we reacted really well … We have to respect we're playing a good side, it's alright going gung ho but we have to be smart, I thought we got to grips with it and all in all we were competitive again.'

The booking that Jansson got for disputing the penalty was his fifth of the season and saw him suspended for the following game at Rotherham though Leeds secured the points. When Roofe's debut goal for the club inspired a 2-0 defeat of Villa at the beginning of December, Leeds were fourth.

Again, they had the opportunity to strike a blow against the top sides when they visited second-placed Brighton but again failed to do so, losing 2-0. Four victories in the five games that followed cemented their position in the top six.

Jansson was nearing a second suspension and Monk was pilloried for including him for the FA Cup-tie at Cambridge. Leeds fought back from a goal behind to secure second half victory, but at the expense of a caution for the Swede. He consequently missed the next two games, including the clash with promotion rivals Derby on Friday, 13 January. It was a grievous blow with back-up Liam Cooper also out after suffering a knee injury at Cambridge and Ayling was asked to partner Bartley at centre-back.

With a surprise defeat for third-placed Reading at home to struggling QPR the night before, victory against the Rams would take Leeds above the Berkshire side. Elland Road was in high spirits for a memorable evening.

Elland Road was rocking, as loud and noisy as it had been all season, though the crowd was only 25,000. When the game started, the sound grew as Leeds rose to the occasion with some breathtaking attacking football, quicker and more committed all over the pitch than Derby.

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Vieira, Hernandez, Bridcutt, Wood, Coyle, Roofe, Bartley, even Doukara … everywhere you looked there was a United player at the top of his form.

Bartley had a string of chances during the first half but fluffed them all. He also had an obvious penalty denied when Shackell pushed him from behind at a corner.

The game was winding down to half-time and fans muttered, 'Should have been ahead by now, Hope we don't regret it later …'

But, with seconds to go, Wood lost his marker, former Leeds midfielder Bradley Johnson, to sweetly meet the corner from Hernandez.

'GET F***IN' INNNNNNNNNNNNNN, YESSSS!' bayed the Kop as one.

The second half was more of the same with Leeds playing the sort of football the fans had longed for. Vieira played the game of his life and Hernandez pulled all the strings, twisting and turning through the Derby ranks as if they weren't there.

Derby boss 'Shteeve' McClaren copped plenty of stick with the fans giving him the bird for the farcical Dutch accent he had used when he coached Twente. They had their pantomime villain in the despised Tom Ince, 'Just like his dad, Dirty Reds!'

For all that, and their glorious football, Leeds couldn't add a second goal and spent the last five minutes wasting time in the corner, but Leeds had done it, up to third after their best performance in years.

The outbreak of peace around the club had been eased in by the enforced absence of Cellino, following the FA's decision to suspend him for 18 months for breaching football agent rules over the sale of Ross McCormack. He had to pay a fine of £250,000, the same penalty levied against United. But he was in the crowd as Leeds hammered Derby, sat next to The Conscience, who looked like an excited little boy with his new toy.

Monk spoke after the game of his pride and hopes of automatic promotion, though Newcastle and Brighton seemed to be a street ahead of anyone else. Certainly, a place in the Play-Offs beckoned eagerly.

An FA Cup defeat at non-league Sutton was dismissed as irrelevant, even though many of the more traditional supporters were furious that Monk treated the game with such scant respect, fielding an eleven that included Paul McKay, Tyler Denton, Matt Grimes and Billy Whitehouse.

With fifteen minutes to go in the game against Nottingham Forest on 25 January, Doukara unleashed an unstoppable strike from outside the box. Forest goalkeeper Stephen Henderson dived, but the velocity of the ball was such that no goalkeeper in the world could have saved it. It was a rare highlight in Doukara's stay at Leeds. He scored fourteen goals in three years after a £1.5 million move from Catania.

It was a surprise when Monk declined to strengthen significantly in the January window, limiting himself to two wingers on loan, Reading's Mo Barrow and Alfonso Pedraza from Villareal. Only the latter had an impact as consistency evaporated. His was an electrifying presence, wrapping up a victory at Birmingham on 3 March with a powerful strike into the bottom corner.

A month earlier, Leeds had come unstuck in a feisty derby away to promotion rivals Huddersfield. The Terriers' German centre-back, Michael Hefele, netted the decisive goal a minute from the end, prompting a violent coming together of the two coaches. Monk seethed with anger as Huddersfield manager David Wagner celebrated too enthusiastically. He shoved the German slyly as he ran past. That resulted in a mass confrontation with two men from each side booked and both coaches sent to the stands.

'I really felt for my players at the end,' said Monk. 'They didn't deserve that at all, they deserved at least a point today. I thought we were very committed, we disrupted them, we followed a good game plan and our display warranted more than what we got. It was a bitter pill to swallow.'

The result saw Huddersfield leapfrog Leeds into fourth and Cardiff's victory at Elland Road the following week further sapped morale.

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Monk managed to coax a seven-game unbeaten spell, culminating in a 2-0 defeat of second-placed Brighton courtesy of two second half goals from Wood. The points lifted Leeds to fourth, eight points behind the Seagulls and opened an eight-point cushion to Fulham, just outside the top six with eight games to go.

The advantage should have been decisive but the promotion charge was undermined two weeks later by a narrow defeat at Reading, who swapped places with Leeds as a consequence.

Defeat at Brentford was another nail in the coffin, but Leeds bounced back with a 3-0 hammering of eighth-placed Preston. They took the lead when Roofe kept his cool to lift his shot over keeper Chris Maxwell and then Hernandez made it 2-0 on the stroke of half-time.

Preston were unlucky when Tom Barkhuizen's shot struck the bar before Alex Baptiste saw red for kicking Hernandez off the ball.

Substitute Doukara finished well to seal victory in the last minute and Leeds regained their cushion of five points on seventh place with five games to go.

Sadly, those fixtures yielded a mere three points and Monk's men ended five points outside the Play-Offs.

It was the best finish since Simon Grayson achieved the same feat in 2011, but bitterly disappointing after being fixtures in the top six from the end of November until mid-April.

Leeds' hopes were all but ended in the penultimate game. Leeds fought back from a three-goal deficit at home to Norwich to snatch a 3-3 draw, but it was not enough.

'It's difficult to be critical of the group as we've said for so long how much they've given to the club,' said Monk afterwards. 'The reality is the majority of the group were not quite ready for this situation … That's not a criticism, it's just a fact.

'I have one more game left, I'll be focused on that. The club have said when they want to speak, I have to respect that. Even when that comes, it's us both agreeing on how we take this forward. I have my views and the club will have theirs.'

The final two months of the season were dismal. Leeds beat Brighton 2-0 at home with a brace from Wood, but there was only one other victory in the last eleven, as Leeds wilted badly, ending the season seventh, missing out on the Play-Offs by five points.

'Onwards and upwards,' thought the fans. If it had been a case of 'close, but no cigar,' there was every reason to believe that Garry Monk would complete the job he had started. A few important additions here and there, they thought, and Leeds could finally secure the promotion they had been chasing for thirteen years as The Conscience prepared to inherit the earth.

On 8 September 2016, Cellino bought out GFH, giving Eleonora Sport complete ownership. Cellino had acquired 75% of the shares in April 2014 and had gradually increased his equity to more than 80%. Cellino's original Share Purchase Agreement with GFH denied him the freedom to sell shares as he wished but his acquisition cleared the way for a more straightforward change of ownership.

It is to the Italian's eternal credit that he managed to show the door firmly to the chaotic force that was GFH, described as 'clueless and vainglorious' by Rob Bagchi in the Daily Telegraph and the club benefited considerably from the stability provided by Monk.

The Italian was in a resigned mood, wearied by his disputes with the League and demoralised by protests from the fans. They had upped the ante with mock funerals for him as they chanted 'Time To Go Massimo' and projected messages of protest onto the side of the East Stand. #TTGM became de rigueur on social media as the strapline for a very active campaign against his continued ownership. Cellino's disqualification as a director was set aside pending an appeal, but the wind had unquestionably gone from his sails.

He claimed that he was ready to sell his shares in the club to Leeds Fans United, a Community Benefit Society representing the supporters, and then told the world he would no longer attend United games. They were decisions born of deep frustration and high emotion and he quickly changed his mind on both counts, though he insisted that if he could get the right offer, he would walk away from the club.

Steve Parkin came back into the picture with an offer to buy 51 per cent of the club for £25 million. He claimed later that contracts were hours away from being signed before Cellino went cold on the deal. Parkin revealed that his due diligence identified that the Italian had put £45 million of his own money into the club by that stage.

Part 2 Radarizzani - Results, table and transfers