Daniel Farke has brushed off the idle speculation from certain newspapers concerning his future, and the better informed sources are suggesting that the club are likely to retain his services for our return to the Premier League.

Ever since Farke was appointed as manager there has been a debate amongst Leeds fans as to whether he would be the right manager to lead us if and when we got back to the Premier League, despite his record as a promotion specialist. The very reason he was able to win the Championship twice with Norwich was because of their immediate relegation after his first triumph.

And inevitably some of this speculation has been picked up by a couple of newspapers this week, suggesting that the powers that be at Elland Road might be ruthless enough to replace him right away, given that it’s imperative that we stay in the Premier League to finance their plans for the long term development of the club.

Leading the way on Wednesday were the ever-unreliable Daily Mail, who said they ‘understood’ that the directors ‘harbour reservations’ as to whether he is the right man for the top flight, and that ‘no decision has yet been made’ about whether to keep him on. But the paper didn’t manage to give any quotes to back up this claim.

They also claimed that ‘other candidates are being examined’ and laughably suggested that ‘names such as Jose Mourinho have previously been linked with the job’. Mourinho would go down like a lead balloon amongst Leeds fans, a manager who lost the plot at least ten years ago, falling out with the players everywhere he goes because of his arrogant and abrasive personality.

But yesterday there was an entirely different story from Breren Cross in the Athletic. He reported that a senior source at Elland Road has told him that Farke is as calm behind the scenes as he is in press conferences, and that they appreciate his level-headedness under pressure Paraag Marathe was impressed by the way Farke handled the chaotic opening weeks of his reign, which he thought would have been too much for some of the other candidates for the job.

Marathe has also told Cross how he likes his relationship with Farke, how the manager earned the right to be trusted on squad decisions, how hard it was to argue with the results he was getting. And Farke’s record in the Premier League with Norwich is not being held against him, as the ownership thinks he was dealt a rough hand at Carrow Road and will be better equipped for that experience.

It's true that technical director Gretar Steinsson has been having conversations with managerial candidates, but that relates to the job at Rangers, in whom the 49ers are in the process of buying a stake. And part of Marathe’s statement of the official site today indicates that Farke is highly thought of an likely to stay in the job.

“To Daniel and the squad - thank you for your relentless pursuit of this achievement. You have been exemplary throughout the campaign and have rightly earned your place in Leeds United history. You represent everything it means to play for this club, and we are all incredibly proud.” And the man himself was typically laid back when he spoke to the Athletic today about the speculation.

“It’s not surprising because I knew exactly which club I signed for. I’m not sure how many managers Leeds have had in the last 20 years, but normally, it’s a good effort if you last for three months”. [The answer is 22 permanent managers or head coaches in that time, more than during the first 80 years of the club’s history].

“Once you sign for this club, you know from this moment there is lots of pressure, lots of noise, lots of expectation. It’s nothing new or nothing I wouldn’t expect because this club is so emotional and so big. Journalists from all over the country, who are never here, have never spoken to one person within the club”.

“Of course, they want to write about Leeds and if you want to deliver some clickbait, you have to bring shock news.” And when asked how he got on with Paraag Marathe, Farke said “We’ve got a really trustful and really good relationship. I talked to Paraag last night. We are already speaking about a few things, what we want to do in the future.”

In the comments section below one of the Athletic articles there was a very insightful contribution from a Norwich fan. “That this is being discussed sounds crazy. In his first Premier League season, we spent £1m and we started the season really well. Then we had a dreadful injury crisis robbing us of 7-8 players for many weeks and the results naturally got worse”.

“We got back up the next season but sold our best player in Buendia and spent a lot of money on unproven young players from abroad who needed time to adapt (Sargent, Rashica, Tzolis). Pre-season was wrecked with a Covid outbreak, so we didn’t win the first 9, not helped by having Liverpool and Man City in first two games”.

They then seemed to have turned the corner by beating Brentford away, only for Farke to be sacked in the dressing room straight after the game. “It seemed very harsh at the time and time has only made that call seem worse. He’ll have learned a lot from his previous experiences, back him with a few good players and he’ll deliver. Sacking him now would be absolutely mental”.

So the issue was that Delia and co couldn’t provide the finance to survive in the Premier League, not that Farke had become a bad manager. None of their subsequent bosses have been able to do any better with the resources available at Carrow Road. There’s no question he has earned the right to have a go at the Premier League, and with the much deeper pockets of the 49ers and Red Bull behind him I’m sure we will be all right.

reuters

Leeds United Polls