{"id":62388,"date":"2025-04-30T08:00:41","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T08:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/62388\/"},"modified":"2025-04-30T08:00:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T08:00:41","slug":"leeds-united-would-be-mad-to-sack-daniel-farke-heres-why-their-premier-league-charge-will-be-totally-different-from-his-doomed-norwich-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/62388\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds United would be mad to sack Daniel Farke – here’s why their Premier League charge will be totally different from his doomed Norwich teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Though Monday was a glittering day in the storied history of Leeds<\/a> United \u2013 beautiful images of the proposed expanded Elland Road stadium and a 4-0 win to put the title in their own hands this weekend \u2013 one factor brought anxiety to those of us who long to see the great club firmly embedded in the top flight again.<\/p>\n

It was the way their opponents stank the house out. Bristol City are supposedly aspiring promotion candidates themselves, led by a thoroughly modern manager in Liam Manning who spoke pre-match about his players needing the right \u2018behaviours\u2019, as thoroughly modern managers do.<\/p>\n

So, glorious though it was to see the divinely gifted Ao Tanaka and Manor Solomon making hay, the night merely underlined the monumental and growing chasm between the land Leeds have just dominated and the one where they will arrive next.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to the question of who will lead them there and whether Daniel Farke<\/a>, who has delivered promotion with more points than Marcelo Bielsa<\/a> did, will be deemed unfit for the Premier League<\/a> and sacked. A course of action which, as my colleague Mike Keegan revealed for Mail Sport last week, is under consideration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t seem hugely encouraging when Paraag Marathe, the Leeds chairman, did not undertake an interview with Sky Sports on Monday to which the broadcaster said he had originally committed.<\/p>\n

That had been the chance to commit publicly to Farke. The silence was deafening.<\/p>\n

\"Will <\/p>\n

Will Daniel Farke be deemed unfit for the Premier League and sacked after Leeds’ promotion?<\/p>\n

\"There <\/p>\n

There is a huge chasm between the land Leeds have dominated and where they will arrive next<\/p>\n

\"Farke <\/p>\n

Farke has received no public backing from chairman Paraag Marathe despite a brilliant season<\/p>\n

All the data about Farke and the Premier League is being trotted out. His 0.53 points per game in the division with Norwich City across two seasons which both saw the club relegated. He won six of his 49 games up there, drew eight and lost 35.<\/p>\n

Some analysts of the game I admire, including Stephen Warnock and Gabby Agbonlahor, have argued Farke is not a \u2018Premier League manager\u2019 and an idea exists that continuing with him would constitute a merely \u2018emotional\u2019 response to promotion.<\/p>\n

All of which, respectfully, I say is nonsense.<\/p>\n

Leeds will arrive in the Premier League without two men who have done most to pilot them \u2013 chief executive Angus Kinnear and transfer adviser Nick Hammond, who are leaving for Everton.<\/p>\n

They are promoted at a time when the challenges of staying up are more monumental than ever. Ipswich Town spent \u00a3110million and have still crashed.<\/p>\n

Amid the almighty complexity of first-season survival and consolidation \u2013 something no promoted side has managed in the past two seasons \u2013 is it a huge stretch of logic to suggest that being equipped with a manager who knows what Premier League relegation looks like may actually be an asset?<\/p>\n

Amid this clamour for change, do we seriously not believe that Farke, a man of quite obvious intelligence, will have learned something from the struggles which followed his two promotions at Norwich, in 2019 and 2021, and want to adapt?<\/p>\n

After both those promotions, Norwich\u2019s board were under the illusion survival was possible with barely any spend. Their summer outlay on permanent signings in 2019 was \u00a31m, when Aston Villa shelled out \u00a3140m. Farke was reduced to saying he wanted his players to channel their \u2018naivety\u2019 before the opening match at Liverpool, where they were 4-0 down in 42 minutes.<\/p>\n

\"Farke <\/p>\n

Farke averaged 0.53 points per game in the Premier League across two seasons with Norwich<\/p>\n

\"But <\/p>\n

But having a manager who knows what Premier League relegation looks like could be an asset<\/p>\n

\"Leeds\u00bf <\/p>\n

Leeds\u2019 owners have a diametrically opposite approach to Norwich to life in the Premier League<\/p>\n

Farke took the relegated club straight back up again, only to find the board\u2019s same modest appetite for survival: a \u00a358m outlay. He was sacked after 11 games.<\/p>\n

Leeds\u2019 owners have a diametrically opposite approach to the Premier League. The 49ers are going up there with those architects’ plans because they are intent on staying. They will spend.<\/p>\n

If Farke is defenestrated, who exactly would be deemed more fitting to take over? The allure of the \u2018bright young manager\u2019 is always there, of course. Witness the 49ers’ interest in 39-year-old Russell Martin for Glasgow Rangers \u2013 a club they are buying \u2013 despite his slavish commitment to a brand of football disastrous for Southampton.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bookies\u2019 favourite to replace Farke is Norwegian Kjetil Knutsen, on the basis that he has led Bodo\/Glimt to the semi-finals of the Europa League. Good luck with that one.<\/p>\n

Farke appears sanguine about the lack of public commitment to him. But he forged a team of all the talents after his stars left last summer, has learned to live with the indifference felt for anyone but Bielsa and has driven Leeds on.<\/p>\n

Sacking him would be an act of lunacy and anything less than full public backing this weekend a travesty. Marching On Together\u00a0they sang with a gusto which was moving to behold, late on Monday night. Whatever happened to that sentiment?<\/p>\n

You’re on the wrong side here, Eni<\/p>\n

My doubts about Eni Aluko go back to the supposed \u2018scandal\u2019 involving her then England manager, Mark Sampson, in 2017.<\/p>\n

I met Sampson, a decent man, a few times and wrote about it. She called me up, incandescent.<\/p>\n

\"My <\/p>\n

My doubts on Eni Aluko go back to the \u2018scandal\u2019 involving former England boss Mark Sampson<\/p>\n

\"Ian <\/p>\n

Ian Wright has been a fine, articulate and hugely valued ambassador for the women\u2019s game<\/p>\n

She declared last October that men are malignly ‘dominating’ broadcasting, coaching and agents’ roles in women’s football. Simply not true.<\/p>\n

And now, she has gone on the BBC\u2019s Woman\u2019s Hour\u00a0to warn that Ian Wright is \u2018blocking\u2019 opportunities for women.<\/p>\n

Wright has been a fine, articulate, hugely valued ambassador for a women\u2019s game which sorely needs such qualities. Does every man really need to be deemed the enemy?<\/p>\n

About time for Petgrave’s absolution\u00a0<\/p>\n

Common sense prevails in the case of Sheffield Steelers ice hockey player, Matt Petgrave, whom the Crown Prosecution Service yesterday announced will not stand trial for the manslaughter of Nottingham Panthers opponent Adam Johnson.<\/p>\n

Such was South Yorkshire Police\u2019s conviction they would find some expert witness, they held the Canadian in the limbo of bail for 16 months.<\/p>\n

Apologies do not follow announcements like this but the treatment of Petgrave has been shabby and inhumane. He is now free to reclaim his passport and return to a life which will never be the same.<\/p>\n

Let Sharp grace his former home<\/p>\n

All the old heroes have been back to Goodison for the Old Lady\u2019s final few games and more than 80 are expected for the swansong against Southampton.<\/p>\n

I understand Graeme Sharp, who has never been back after his boardroom advisory role ended in such acrimony in 2023, has met David Moyes in recent weeks. Hopefully, he may yet grace the stadium where he thrilled so many.<\/p>\n

\"Graeme <\/p>\n

Graeme Sharp (with 1987 First Division trophy) must be permitted to return to Goodison Park<\/p>\n

Why superstars WILL be heading to Wrexham\u00a0<\/p>\n

The notion of Wrexham signing free agents such as Kevin De Bruyne and Jamie Vardy is not as crazy as it sounds, given that any star player looking for a post-career profile in the US can benefit from the help Ryan Reynolds would bring both as a marketeer and a superstar.<\/p>\n

A fascinating recent addition to Wrexham\u2019s board is American George Dewey, Reynolds\u2019 business partner in his Maximum Effort marketing business.<\/p>\n

He and I spoke at length for my book on the club, Tinseltown. He\u2019s impressive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Forgive me for saying that the book, available in easy-to-handle paperback, reveals much more about him and them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Though Monday was a glittering day in the storied history of Leeds United \u2013 beautiful images of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,92,1385,393,94,14590,4884,1860,2922,101,93,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-62388","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-daniel-farke","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-football-league-championship","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-leeds","16":"tag-leeds-united","17":"tag-premier-league","18":"tag-sport","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114425864215209089","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}