Leeds United v Swansea City: The men who allow Daniel Farke to concentrate on beating Swans — Yorkshire Post 29/11/23
It was clear as Leeds United players effortless switched positions in Friday’s first half at Rotherham United, each seemingly instinctively knowing where they needed to be even when their mate popped up somewhere unexpected, that things are gelling nicely at Elland Road.
By Stuart Rayner
But Leeds’ failure to win the game shows there is still much
to do in manager Daniel Farke’s endless search for perfection.
Football fans, understandably, focus on the thing every
aspect of a club ought to be geared to – the 90 minutes on a Saturday,
Wednesday, or whenever the television companies want them to play. But
underpinning it is what happens behind the scenes, and Farke is just as happy
with the improving teamwork there too.
The proof, according to the German, is that he is spending
less time talking to American-based chairman Paraag Marathe, with both more
comfortable in the structures around them. One of the pillars was reinforced
when former Swindon Town and Reading goalkeeper Nick Hammond's short-term
contract as football advisor was recently extended through the next two
transfer windows.
Like the chefs and nutritionists Farke name-checked before
Wednesday's Championship visit of Swansea City for their work in keeping
players in good shape, to have someone he now trusts overseeing transfers
alongside technical director Gretar Steinsson is important too, allowing him to
concentrate on the front-of-house work accumulating points in a competitive
Championship promotion race.
"He's brilliant and key to our success in recent months
by gaining more and more stability for this club," says Farke of Hammond.
"I've got great support with Angus (Kinnear, the chief executive), Nick
and Gretar.
"Nick with his experience, his connections, his
network, his quality, he has worked in the role as a sporting director and it’s
how he handles things in difficult circumstances – we spoke a lot about our
contractual situations in the summer. He's used all his qualities and his
experience but also he's a great personality, fully committed to our club.
"t's a perfect decision to keep him for longer. Our
relationship is great, it's a joy to work with him more or less on a daily
basis. The same with Angus and Gretar.
"We've got a very big group with many people we have to
talk about but it's creating more and more an atmosphere where we know each
other and speak day to day more."
Gone are the days when football clubs were run by a dictator
in the manager's office. Leeds United have become too big an operation for the
manager to be as omnipresent as Don Revie was, and it is now about taking
hurdles and distractions away from Farke and his managerial counterparts.
"It's a task for Nick and Gretar to prepare the mid-
and long-term picture, not just January but what happens the next season and
sometimes even a bit further ahead, this is quite important," stresses
Farke.
"It's important for me to concentrate and focus on the
daily work and the shot-term success. I have to focus on the next game and make
sure the next training session and next game are on a top level.
"So it's important to have people I trust like Nick,
Gretar and Angus working in the background on things that are important for
January and next summer and even the next years.
"We chat about it but my main focus is still the here
and now. I'm grateful to have these people giving a bit more time to the
middle- and long-term."
If talking more to that triumvirate is a good sign, so is
speaking less to his chairman, Farke insists.
"In the beginning when we had the initial talks, (I
spoke to them) a lot because I wanted to see the whole picture and how they
want to lead the club, what were the values and the processes," he
explains.
"My gut feeling was really good and we were pretty much
on the same page on how to bring stability and mid- and long-term success, not
just short-term.
"Everyone wants short-term (success), we want
sustainability.
"In the beginning it was important to speak about many
things but he (Marathe)'s also experienced in the sport business and he knows I
have to focus on my players and so much work, especially in the Championship –
this league is relentless.
"I don't have too much time to be distracted by too
many chats about many other things so I think we've found a really good balance
between being in touch and still having the time and energy to concentrate on
the daily work.
"This club is really blessed with lots of quality
people.
"We just have to make sure that further on we make the
right decisions and we have to be on it, not enjoying ourselves too much,
staying focused and staying awake."