in june 2004, carlisle agreed to join recently relegated championship club leeds united on a free transfer. he was offered a new contract by queens park rangers, but he was keen to return to northern england and cut short his summer holiday in tenerife to sign for the west yorkshire club on a two-year contract. his contract with leeds began on 1 july 2004, and he made his debut for the club in the 1–1 draw with nottingham forest on 21 august. he scored his first goal for leeds two matches later, netting the first goal in the team's 3–0 victory against coventry city. he was a regular in the team during the first half of the season, playing in every match from the start of september until the end of november. however, he then experienced another major injury set-back, tearing his ankle ligaments during the 1–0 defeat to rotherham united on 29 november 2004, an injury which left him out of action for a number of weeks.