Mighty Leeds Weblog

By Graham Smyth Daniel Farke with an update on talks with the Leeds United board about the club’s future. Leeds United manager Daniel Farke says that he and the board are in talks over their immediate and mid-term future plans. The German's press conference to preview last Sunday's win over Brighton included a lengthy discussion on the need to sit down and find alignment on how the club plans to proceed having secured safety. Farke spoke of achieving all the goals that were set when he signed his four-year contract in 2023 and how that project was ending so a new one had to be laid out. He also made it clear that there needed to be ambition and a desire to develop, and he would only lead a project if he remained in charge of the sporting decisions. This week, ahead of the Premier League finale at West Ham United, Farke said that there are talks going on behind the scenes. And he senses ambition. "I'm not addicted too much to a three-year vision," he sa...

The Bank of England Club were rumoured to be ready to bust the bank to get the signature of John Charles from Leeds United, and Sunderland legend Raich Carter, the Peacocks’ manager, was ready to do business. by Kelvin.Beattie Argus had tracked and reported this story with some enthusiasm in the Sunderland Echo in the spring of 1955. It was not the first time he had committed to print to tell readers the club were chasing the signature of “this great player”. Sunderland were known as the Bank of England club in the 1950s. Under the stewardship of chairman Ted Ditchburn and his board, they spent unprecedented amounts of money to buy in the best individual players of the age in an attempt to recapture the glories of halcyon days. With Bill Murray as manager for all of this ‘Bank of England’ period, Sunderland had just enjoyed their best-ever season (1954/55) in this era. They finished fourth in the First Division and got to the semi-final of the FA Cup, where they were knocked ou...

The economic potential of Yorkshire is evidently not being fulfilled. The scale of the prize was clear from the real estate investment and infrastructure forum UKREiiF, taking place in Leeds. The Mayor of West Yorkshire announced plans for a Mayoral Development Zone in Leeds that could accelerate 20,000 new homes for the city and boost major infrastructure projects like the redevelopment of Elland Road is a glimpse of what could be possible if vision is paired with political will. The plans would see former industrial land being put to good use with housing greatly needed in the region. This needs to be accompanied by investment in transport infrastructure. Namely the need for a tram network across West Yorkshire. The importance of delivering the West Yorkshire mass transit network was underscored by Leeds United director Peter Lowy. Mr Lowy makes a convincing argument for the first phase of the West Yorkshire mass transit project to run trams to Elland Road. He says that it wo...

Daniel Farke has just over 12 months left on his contract and the 49ers will have to make a renewal call Isaac Johnson Leeds United reporter If there was any doubt that the ball is in the 49ers' court when it comes to Daniel Farke’s contract, the Leeds United manager’s comments last week extinguished it. His daring decision to go strong on his demands of the board’s forward vision this summer, though hardly controversial, was pre-meditated and purposeful. It leads the observer to ponder why he decided to make such comments when he did. While the main contents - to be "ambitious" in the next three to five years and keep evolving - is exactly what fans want to hear, his suggestion of wanting to retain the "final say" on sporting matters and that he needed to be “convinced” of the next stage leaves supporters staring back at club chiefs. This is not the first time Farke has sent a message to hierarchy by the vessel of a press conference, having done so be...

Get the traffic cone Written by: Rob Conlon The beach balls were out and so was half of Leeds United’s team. In the last home game of the season, Sebastiaan Bornauw was playing his first ninety minutes in the Premier League at Elland Road. The bench was filled by kids yet to make their debuts. And by the end of the game, Leeds were operating with Wilf Gnonto at right-back and Joel Piroe at right midfield. There was no need for Leeds to win this game and that was as good a reason as any. The whole afternoon was a microcosm of the campaign, the weather oscillating between autumn, winter, spring and summer all in the space of a few hours, 93 minutes of patient resilience followed by the sweet release of jubilation and a chance to celebrate every member of this team for one last time. Hello, goodbye, United are back! Of those 93 preceding minutes, I can’t remember a great deal. The sparse notes I made on my phone reflect a care free afternoon that, in the case of Samu Saiz’s name b...

By Graham Smyth Leeds United proved against Brighton that you can have half an eye on the future and still do your job in the present. The Whites' smash and grab victory in their final home outing perfectly encapsulated their entire Premier League return. All season long they have remained competitive and therefore in with a chance of points. Against Brighton they came under serious pressure, defended for their lives and then won it by pouncing ruthlessly on a stoppage time error. Daniel Farke spent much of his pre-game presser talking about the future, both his and the club's. In his eyes the only possible way forward, together, is to be ambitious and not stand still. That was the backdrop to this encounter with a side who have firmly established themselves as a Premier League force and shown ambition that is close to being rewarded with European football. For Elland Road, some of which was bathed in sunshine, it was not a time for worrying too much about what is to co...

Leeds United never do things the easy way but under Daniel Farke, they make a way Isaac Johnson Leeds United reporter This season has been one of grit, resilience and showing teeth. Daniel Farke has engineered a side that the Leeds United fans love to get behind - one that fights to the end and thereby represents the club in the best way. It might not always be pretty but it gets the job done. Leeds started the season with a grinding 1-0 win over Everton and ended it with an attritional 1-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion yesterday. The Seagulls were playing for something, needing a win to keep their outside Champions League hopes alive. That made the result all the more pleasing, and it showcased United’s mentality given they themselves had nothing to play for. This was best typified by Wilfried Gnonto - who has had limited game time this season with interest from Freiburg sure to be the first of many summer enquiries - heading away a vital header towards the end. ...

By Kyle Newbould Work on Elland Road can start to really kick on following Leeds United’s final home game of the season against Brighton on Sunday. The Whites ended their 2025/26 home campaign on a high, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin scoring a 95th-minute winner to defeat their Champions League-chasing opponents. Daniel Farke’s side defended with their lives and were met with a joyous atmosphere for their post-match lap of honour. With Leeds not due back playing at Elland Road until August, development can now continue without interruption with signs work is already underway - like scaffolding on the West Stand. It’s an exciting time for the entire area and the YEP has rounded up some of the latest stadium expansion news below. Earlier this weekend, our sister site the Yorkshire Post shared a brand new computer-generated image (CGI) of an expanded Elland Road with the capacity set to increase from 37,645 to a huge 53,000. The image was shared by the Lowy Family Group, the club’s d...

By Stuart Rayner Daniel Farke said Leeds United had finished their season in a “perfect-fitting style” with a 1-0 win over Brighton and Hove Albion. Now he wants the "icing on the cake" with a final-day victory over West Ham that would take them to 50 points for the season. Dominic Calvert-Lewin's stoppage-time goal secured an 11th win of the Whites' first season back in the Premier League. It was far from easy, with a Brighton team pushing for European qualification the better side, but in many ways that made it more impressive. "It was a perfect fitting ending to a fantastic season for us here at least – of course we have one more game to go. "It was a difficult week for many reasons, with the injuries, with the illnesses and a game against a side who had all to play for before the game. Brighton could even still qualify for the Champions League, they were in red-hot form. "We had many key players out and during the game injuries for Ant...

By JAMES SHIELD Jan Paul van Hecke’s woeful back pass, which presented Leeds United with a victory their display scarcely deserved, forced Brighton and Hove Albion to place their European ambitions on hold. Fabian Hurzeler’s side arrived at Elland Road knowing that a win would seal a place in UEFA competition next season, ahead of next weekend’s meeting with Manchester United. Given the size of the prize on offer, their lacklustre approach to the game was punished when van Hecke, unaware of Dominic Calvert Lewin’s presence, casually swept the ball back towards his goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen deep into stoppage time. The former Everton striker, who has proved one of Farke’s most astute acquisitions since leading the hosts out of the Championship, read the defender’s intentions and claimed his 15th of the season with a clinical finish. Van Hecke and his team mates looked disconsolate as they trudged off at the final whistle, knowing they had let a huge opportunity slip from their ...

By Lee Sobot An already safe Leeds United side took on highflying Brighton at Elland Road in their final home game of the Premier League season. Dominic Calvert-Lewin struck an incredible 96th-minute winner to send Elland Road wild in sealing a 1-0 victory at home to Sunday’s final visitors of the Premier League season Brighton after a Whites star had been stretchered off. Brighton made a bright start but Pascal Gross sent a header from a deep cross to the far post behind for a goal kick and a Carlos Baleba's curled attempt from the edge of the box was straight at Karl Darlow who saved. But Leeds gradually began to cause problems themselves, Dan James often threatening from the right flank and seeing a very decent effort deflected just wide of the left hand post. As the game hit a bit of a lull, former Leeds star Georginio Rutter was given a tremendous reception from the Kop and West Stand as he began his warm up, the Brighton attacker applauding his ex-club’s supporters....

By Stuart Rayner For a while when Daniel Farke spoke to the media on Friday, it sounded like the manager of Leeds United was saying his goodbyes. "Three years ago we spoke about the goals we want to achieve and I have to say my mission is fulfilled and my job is done and there's nothing to add," he said. "My mission is fulfilled one year earlier than expected." But having laid those landmines, he backed away from them. Asked if this was him casting doubt over whether he would see out the four-year contract he signed at Elland Road, he insisted: "That's a wrong interpretation." If it was not goodbye, surely it was a powerplay. Political machinations have been all the rage this week, and it seemed like Farke had a taste for it. The more he talked, the more it sounded like laying the ground for a fight. Farke always insists he does not play mind games, but he sounded like a man trying to wrestle the future of the Elland Road club in th...

By Graham Smyth Leeds United boss Daniel Farke raised eyebrows and further questions with what he said in the press room before the Brighton game, but what to make of it? The penultimate pre-match press conference of the 2025/26 season could have been routine. Team news, a reflection on a job well done and what to expect from Brighton on Sunday - that is what it could have been because that is all anyone really expected. Instead, Daniel Farke went down a different route. Instead, he put the cat among the pigeons/laid down a challenge to the board/made it sound like he was off/got a little revenge for being left swinging in the breeze by reports on his job security this time last year/made perfectly reasonable comments about what must happen next at Elland Road. Delete as you feel appropriate. What Farke said about his job being 'done', the mission complete and the boxes ticked, followed by his insistence that the next project had to be agreed by all at the club and had to...

By Stuart Rayner Manager Daniel Farke has thrown the gauntlet down to Leeds United by making it clear they need to match his ambitions. He rowed back slightly, making it clear he had no intention of leaving, but there was no escaping the theme of a press conference ostensibly to preview Sunday's final Premier League home game of the season, against Brighton and Hove Albion. "I won't take on a season where I'm not convinced the club is heading in the right direction," he stressed. Having claimed to have achieved all the targets the club set him a year before the end of his contract, he challenged them to come up with a new plan which excites him. Farke is speaking from a position of strength, having kept newly-promoted Leeds in the Premier League. He said that when Marcelo Bielsa did that in 2021 Leeds failed to build on it and urged them not to make the same mistake again. "It's important to express my heartfelt gratitude and a big thank you t...

By Graham Smyth Daniel Farke spoke in great detail about Leeds United’s future at Friday’s pre-Brighton press conference. Leeds United boss Daniel Farke says the job he set out to do in 2023 is done so he and the club need to agree new goals this summer. Safety was secured on Sunday thanks to West Ham's loss to Arsenal and Leeds celebrated with a come-from-behind draw at relegation-threatened Spurs on Monday night. Ahead of the penultimate Premier League fixture of the season at home to Brighton Farke was asked about next season and a number of player contract situations. His response was that the first priority had to be talks with the board to decide on their next steps. Farke feels he and the club have come to the end of their first mission and need to agree on the way forward, once the final two games are complete and he has returned home to Germany for a short break. "When I signed the contract here three years ago we spoke about the goals, what we want to ach...

Never Meet Your Enemies Written by: Alan Wheatley They say never meet your heroes,
but what about meeting your enemies? What would you say if you found yourself in a one-on-one conversation with Der Kaiser — Franz Beckenbauer? I’ve often wondered what I should have said. In truth, I’m not sure I’d publish my first instincts. Yet, in the early 2000s, I found myself doing exactly that — spending several unexpected hours in the company of the man who, for many Leeds fans, represents the most controversial night in our football history. I had been living in Dubai since 1998. In mid-2005, my late and very good friend Stuart Priestley introduced me to Beckenbauer as we crossed paths in a Dubai hotel. Stuart and I went back years — both from the same part of Yorkshire, he from Rodley, near my home in Calverley. He had carved out a remarkable role running travel for Leeds United under Ridsdale and O’Leary. For a Leeds supporter, it was as close as you could get to living the dream. ...

By Kyle Newbould Alex Cairns spent almost a decade away from Leeds United before his 2024 return under Daniel Farke. Leeds United goalkeeper Alex Cairns admits the end of his previous Whites stint was ‘horrendous’ and he was informed of his release via letter. Doncaster-born Cairns came through the Leeds academy before turning professional in 2011, acting as back-up for a number of goalkeepers either side of spells on loan at Barrow and Stalybridge Celtic. He made just one appearance during his initial time in West Yorkshire, replacing Paul Rachubka at half-time in a 5-0 defeat to Blackpool. Cairns was inside the Leeds squad during previous owner Massimo Cellino’s first season in charge at Elland Road, after which his contract was due to expire. And speaking on this week’s Official Leeds United podcast, the Whites goalkeeper explained how neither he, nor manager at the time Neil Redfearn, had any idea he’d be let go. “It felt like a shambles. The expectation will always be th...

By Kyle Newbould The American has polarised Leeds United opinion but is enjoying an impressive Premier League return. Leeds United star Brenden Aaronson admits it has been ‘tough’ to deal with boos from his own fans on two separate occasions. Aaronson has come in for regular scrutiny during his four-year spell at Leeds, one of which was spent on loan at Union Berlin in Germany. The American’s work-rate has never even threatened to be questioned but particularly during difficult periods for the team as a whole, frustration has been aimed his way from the stands. Leeds fans made their feelings clear on returning loanees Aaronson and Max Wober at the start of their 2024/25 Championship campaign - albeit the former at least helped himself by addressing his decision to leave in pre-season. The attacking midfielder has now opened up on the mental challenges he faced during that period. “When I decided to come back to Leeds, it was definitely a tough decision,” Aaronson told Sky Spo...

O captain, my captain Words by: Chris McMenamy The English media’s inability to understand what makes Leeds United tick meant that many, if not all, predicted a straightforward home win for Tottenham against a side that had already secured safety without kicking a ball. So imagine their surprise when, with more than an hour played and Spurs leading 1-0, United captain Ethan Ampadu came flying into the opposition penalty area and took an overhead kick to the forehead from Mathys Tel. His team were meant to be on the beach, not in North London trying to ruin Spurs’ season for no reason other than personal pride. Nobody could believe what they were seeing, including the officials who spent four minutes replaying to see if Tel had kicked Ampadu in the head and, if so, why? If this is the length that Leeds United’s number four would go to just to earn a ‘meaningless’ point, there’s no telling what might happen when there’s something on the line. The captain’s role in modern footba...