‘This is not Bayern' – Daniel Farke on Leeds United task, job aim, Ipswich and titles stance — YEP 23/12/23

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Daniel Farke is hoping he can have the best of both worlds in setting out his coaching aims upon Leeds United’s latest task.

By Lee Sobot

Farke will face a manager ten years his junior in today's Championship promotion-race showdown against visiting Ipswich Town whose 37-year-old boss Kieran McKenna is in his first outright senior management role. Former Manchester United youth coach and then first team coach McKenna was appointed into the Ipswich hotseat in December 2021, at which point the club sat 12th in the League One.

Two years later, McKenna's Ipswich side are heading to Elland Road sat second in the Championship table and ten points ahead of third-placed Leeds following a stunning start to life back in the Championship having been promoted as League One runners-up last term.

Today's lunchtime showdown will mark just McKenna's 23rd game as a Championship manager and one in which he will face an opposite number in Farke who has won the Championship twice with Norwich City as part of a management career that has featured four titles having also scooped two with German outfit SV Lippstadt.

They are titles which Farke is proud of, the German grateful for the experience they have given him. There is, though, says United’s manager, always room to further develop and that he would not allow himself to manage a club if thinking he knew it all.

"The quality of the coaches is never about age," said Farke, asked about McKenna being typical of coaches in the Championship with new ideas and whether that stimulated him. "I think you can be a pretty old fashioned coach at a young age and the other way around.

"For me, you have to be open, I spoke about this. If I think I know everything about football I don’t have to develop my thoughts or approach, you should retire because you’re not good enough. You have to be ahead of the wave, this is what the best coaches are trying to do. For that, it’s not about age, it’s more like about what you are doing, you can experience as a young coach.

"Nobody can teach you the lessons of what it means to be on Championship level if you’ve ever worked there before, you always have to learn the lessons in your first season, this is normal. This is what you have to do.

"Yes, and also like, if you are the first time involved in a relegation battle, nobody can teach you how this feels on the mental side. Or the other way around, if it’s the first time involved in battle for promotion or title, nobody can teach you, so I am quite thankful I have already won a league four times in my career, it always helps and I tell you what, it also helps if it’s in a lower tier as the process is the same.

"So for that, yes you need to make your own experiences but for me it is never just a sign of quality at a special age, it’s more like how much are you open to invest, to work, to be a bit like a workaholic and be ahead of the wave, you can do this as a young coach or as an older coach, the experience of older coaches is priceless and you have to earn by doing this job. I am not too much about the passport or age of a coach, they are different qualities."

Asked how hard it was for him to stay ahead of the wave - pressed on having methods that worked well in the past but aware that you cannot just stay the same, Farke reasoned: "Yes, the good thing is when you work on the highest level and have to find solutions against top sides, it also develops your game and you have to analyse opponents on the top level to find solutions.

"It always helps to analyse. Last season, I was in charge of Borussia Monchengladbach and we played Bayern Munich, a top class young coach and we had to find solutions against this approach, or against Dortmund, or Leipzig, thank god we found some, four points against Bayern, not too bad. It doesn’t help me right now, this is not Bayern it is Ipswich.

"It helps if you work on a different level to develop your game, it’s not just a theoretical way like on PlayStation or League Two level, you have to be open to do this, it’s always a challenge as you have to be concentrated on daily work, press conferences and things like this. Yes you have to do this.

"But you need also to create times where you can create creativity and be creative. You think more on the game on a level, this is crucial and you need to take your time to do this. It’s important."

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