Sad when leader's taken away to be thrown out (7)
I believe the answer is:
ejected
'be thrown out' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'sad when leader's taken away' is the wordplay.
'sad' becomes 'dejected' (associated in meaning).
'when leader's taken away' means to remove the first letter.
'dejected' with its first letter taken off is 'EJECTED'.
'to' is the link.
(Other definitions for ejected that I've seen before include "Turned out" , "Disgorged" , "Put or thrown out" , "Expelled, booted out" , "Thrust out" .)