’We’re on the up again’: How relegation saved Leeds United — iNews 15/11/23

Leeds thought relegation would destroy their club – instead full-back Sam Byram tells i’s Mark Douglas how a city fell in love with its football club again

By Mark Douglas

Last Thursday, in the changing rooms at Elland Road, Leeds United defender Sam Byram sat down for a cup of tea with the club’s veterans support group.

It was part of the EFL’s week of action, an initiative that draws attention to the impact that all 72 of the clubs in the Football League have on their communities.

That Leeds were part of such an uplifting week feels somehow appropriate, given the story currently playing out in West Yorkshire. They are third in the Championship after an impressive run but more than that, they feel like a club once again being embraced by the city.

A little snippet from the meeting, relayed by Byram to i, tells a story.

“One of the guys asked me ‘What’s different to the last time you were here?'” Byram says, referring to a previous spell in 2016 when Massimo Cellino was the owner and Leeds oscillated between crisis and triumph.

“The club had been through a bit of a tough patch when I was previously here. To come back and see how together the city is, to see the atmosphere at home games and the travelling fans, it’s something that’s really taken me by surprise.”

Here’s how they did it.

The images of that wild day in west London when Leeds escaped relegation in May 2022 are burned in the mind. A shirtless Raphinha diving into the visiting fans to celebrate survival, Victor Orta tearing at Jesse Marsch’s white polo shirt, those in charge thrusting themselves front and centre after Leeds dodged demotion.

Relegation would have been ruinous, so the theory went. But in reality it was what followed – Orta and company viewing survival as an endorsement of their flimsy blueprint and pressing on regardless – that really damaged the club.

Whisper it quietly but re-starting in the Championship, away from the harsh glare of the Premier League spotlight and under new management has allowed a fractured fanbase to reconnect with their club.

Relegation has been a chance for reset and this version of Leeds is much more recognisable than the one which surrendered survival under Sam Allardyce.

The so-called smart recruitment of Orta has thankfully been ditched. The man who boasted that he’d found an algorithm on data site Statsbomb to identify players who could fit straight into Leeds’ unique high press style was exposed by a succession of bad picks last summer.

Instead they have signed good characters with proven Championship pedigree and Daniel Farke’s stamp on the signings is undeniable.

Ethan Ampadu has been pick of the bunch but their late move for Byram, a left-back who departed under a bit of a cloud in 2016, carries symbolism. He returned hungry and at the manager’s behest, initially to build his own fitness after an injury plagued final couple of seasons at Norwich.

But his ability, work ethic and the ease with which he adapted to the group around him convinced Farke. It was not a showy signing but it was sensible.

“There’s always a risk of training and playing games with no guarantee of the future but the chance to come back to Leeds and my hometown club, work with staff I’d worked with before, it was a no-brainer,” he says, reflecting on it.

“There’s no guarantees of anything when I came back to train but since I came back everyone’s been so welcoming and I feel like I’ve settled right back in.”

Now the club’s new owners, the 49ers, have their feet under the table, you suspect January will see Leeds flex their muscles in the transfer market. They are well within Financial Fair Play parameters and are currently within touching distance of the top two.

“We’re a club back on the up again. The support, the squad we’ve got, it’s a top club,” Bryram says.

It was the middle of July in Oslo. Rain was teeming down outside and an out-of-sorts Leeds had just been beaten by a callow Manchester United team when Daniel Farke spoke to a gaggle of local media.

“We know it’s a difficult ask but if it was easy anyone could do it,” he said.

A total of 16 players left in the summer, many of whom Leeds wanted to keep. Five were high-profile loans as players took advantage of clauses in their contract that allowed them to flee the Championship-bound club.

Resentment burned in the stands as others, such as Willy Gnonto, agitated to join them. The situation felt at a tipping point.

But Farke managed it flawlessly. Since day one his messaging has been direct and realistic, his team hard-working and attack-minded and his man management excellent.

After burning through three managers last season – and an unseemly spell flailing around looking for Marsch’s replacement – his appointment feels really astute.

Byram has worked with him before at Norwich and is not surprised at the impact he is having at Elland Road.

“He’s brilliant to work with,” he adds.

“His reputation, especially from the Championship and getting promoted in the past, speaks for itself. His style of play from Norwich and when he was managing out of the country (is excellent).”

Those who have played under him say the German is a meticulous workaholic whose long days at Leeds training ground Thorp Arch often begin before sunrise. The way he treated some of those agitating for a move away – hard but fair, willing to offer a second chance – won him the respect of those left to pick up the pieces from relegation.

“His attention to detail is top notch, you can see that in the games and the way we try to play high pressing, high energy, attacking football,” Byram says.

“Day to day, him and his staff are great people to work with and it makes my job even more enjoyable.

“Every day I look forward to training and I think so far we have shown we are capable of. There’s somewhere we have fallen below our standards but it’s down to us to show our consistency is top level.”

The Elland Road takeover by the strategic arm of the San Francisco 49ers had long been in the works but relegation complicated matters.

Initially there was uncertainty over the deal which curdled into alarm when claims surfaced that Andrea Radrizzani had attempted to use Elland Road as collateral to secure a bank loan ahead of his purchase of Sampdoria. Eventually a deal was brokered but by mid-July and, in the words of one source who spoke to i at the time, with “a lot more work to do than we first thought”.

Talk of grand, sweeping visions for the future had to be shelved in favour of practical concerns. The resolve of the new owners was tested by the sheer number of players who wanted to leave. Many of the contracts negotiated before their time took decisions out of their hands.

The 49ers management are now settled in and are out of crisis mode. Some of their initial decisions – dictated by circumstances – look savvy but fans will judge them on their commitment to buying and then re-developing an ageing Elland Road. Backing Farke in January is also key.

Internally, they’re understood to feel Leeds’ infrastructure needs to be strengthened. It is a club that belongs in the Premier League that, too often, resembles a Championship club.

The final word, then, to Byram: a voice of reason and experience in the second tier.

“It’s a Premier League club when you look at the fanbase and size of it,” he says.

“Everywhere you go there’s a Leeds fan, whether it’s in this country or abroad but the Championship – I’ve said it before and other players and managers say the same thing – it’s such a tough league to get out of.

“It’s game after game after game, it’s such a tough league. We’ve got a great squad, a great manager, a great set-up but it’s just about each week, attacking each week and trying to get points on the board.”

Leeds have gone back to basics, and it appears to be working.