Owner Massimo Cellino will today be forced to stand down as the man in control at Elland Road after being disqualified from running the club by the Football League.
After failing with an appeal, Cellino has been barred from running Leeds until 10 April when a conviction for tax evasion - which put him in breach of the League's owners' and directors' test - is deemed to be spent.
Leeds must prove that Cellino is no longer in charge as they seek an alternative way of operating the club but football-wise they regained some direction to ease their growing relegation fears thanks to a wonderful first-half strike from midfielder Luke Murphy.
Bournemouth arrived in West Yorkshire hoping to extend their lead at the top of the table to four points but instead it was Leeds who claimed victory when substitute Yann Kermorgant missed from the penalty spot three minutes from time.
A minute's applause for former Leeds chairman Leslie Silver, who died at the end of December, before kick-off brought back memories of happier times for the fallen Yorkshire giants.
With Silver at the helm, Leeds had won the First Division title in 1992 in the season before the Premier League came into being.
Leeds were then one of the big hitters of the new elite for a time but now they are battling just to stay in the Championship.
Before last night, Neil Redfearn's side hadn't won in seven league games to slip towards the drop zone in stark contrast to the form of a Bournemouth side which has soared to the top of the table thanks to just two defeats since they lost at home to Leeds in September.
But the Leeds players answered Redfearn's call to stay focused on the job in hand and not become distracted by the renewed ownership problems as they gave the leaders a major test of their credentials.
Top scorer Callum Wilson and Brett Pitman both shot wide early on for the Cherries and Wilson missed a sitter just before the break as he allowed Marco Silvestri to save his close-range header.
But between times Leeds posed a real threat of their own and led thanks to Murphy's 36th-minute thunderbolt, drilled into the top corner after he had earlier been denied by Artur Boruc's flying save.
Wilson should have equalised before the break when he failed to beat Marco Silvestri with a close-range header.
And the striker failed to convert another one-on-one opportunity against the Leeds keeper mid-way through the second half as Leeds lived dangerously.
But Sam Byram almost gave them breathing space with an effort saved by Boruc as Leeds held on to see some light at the end of the tunnel after Guiseppe Bellusci was sent off for a foul on Wilson but Kermorgant fluffed his chance to gain a point.
Leeds (4-4-1-1): Silvestri; Wootton, Bellusci, Cooper, Taylor; Byram, Cook, Murphy, Mowatt; Austin; Morison. Substitutes: Taylor, Pearce, Sharp, Berardi, Bianchi, Doukara, Antenucci.
Bournemouth (4-4-1-1): Boruc; Francis, Elphick, Cook, Daniels; Ritchie, Arter, Surman, Pugh; Pitman; Wilson. Substitutes: Allsop, Gosling, Smith, Kermorgant, Stanislas, Fraser, O'Kane.
Referee: Oliver Langford