Leeds United are now a Premier League club but Daniel Farke’s side had to get 100 points to win the Championship title last term.
In the end, Leeds United and Burnley ran away with things in the three-way automatic promotion race over Sheffield United. However, it was still a nerve-wracking period for the club.
Daniel Farke and Scott Parker were promoted with two games to spare over Chris Wilder’s Blades team, with Manor Solomon’s late goal deciding who came out on top despite both confirming their place in the Premier League with games to spare.
Leeds ended the campaign with six wins in a row and having lost just one of the final 28 games in the league overall, but a run of draws had the fans — and some players — on edge. One player has explained how he felt in that spell.
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty ImagesAo Tanaka’s admission about his nerves during Leeds’ run-in
Ao Tanaka has hinted he would have left Leeds without promotion. It was the summer of 2024 when Tanaka arrived from Fortuna Dusseldorf for just £3.4 million and it’s proved to be a bargain.
Tanaka has posted emotional social media posts in recent weeks, which outline his feelings on moving to the top flight at last. The Japanese midfield maestro has admitted that he was so nervous about promotion, though.
Tanaka enjoyed holidaying with Joel Piroe in Japan this summer. It was during that time where he was part of an interview with GOAL, who have revealed the midfielder’s thoughts on the run-in.
He said: “The last two months were really tough. Every week, I played while thinking that I didn’t want to play. If I played, there was a chance that we would lose points.
MORE LEEDS UNITED STORIES
“I was so nervous that I thought, ‘I’ll do anything, just give me three points’. It’s not like a Championship race, it’s more like ‘heaven or hell’.
“Finishing third and not getting promoted is the same as finishing 18th. And if we get promoted, we’ll go to the Premier League, the dream stage of the world.”
Tanaka’s nomination for Championship awards was well deserved, with the 27-year-old the player who ran the engine room of the team. That was also why Tanaka was in the PFA Team of the Season recently alongside four other teammates at Leeds.
Given the way he plays, you wouldn’t know he was nervous from how he performed with such composure and quality. Leeds won six out of six after a draw to Luton Town in the run-in and he needn’t have been so concerned.
Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty ImagesWhat is Leeds’ hardest period of the 2025/26 campaign?
It’s obvious that Tanaka is a player to build the Leeds team around this season for Farke. However, it will be difficult for Leeds to survive Premier League relegation as it is.
That end-of-the-season run was a breeze in the end but the cliche goes that there are no easy fixtures in English football’s top flight, such is the nature of the Premier League and the gap to the Championship.
- Brighton & Hove Albion (A) – Saturday 1st November
- Nottingham Forest (A) – Saturday 8th November
- Aston Villa (H) – Saturday 22nd November
- Manchester City (A) – Saturday 29th November
- Chelsea (H) – Wednesday 3rd December
- Liverpool (H) – Saturday 6th December
Leeds fans believe December is the hardest month of their season. However, we believe the toughest run for Leeds actually starts in November. As shown above, Leeds have a really tricky run of fixtures against numerous sides competing in Europe this season.