'No' - Daniel Farke issues Leeds United promotion warning with 'crucial factor' belief — YEP 21/1/24

Daniel Farke has issued a Leeds United promotion warning but highlighted a potentially crucial factor in the Whites’ bid for an immediate Premier League return.

By Lee Sobot

Leeds are approaching today’s Championship hosting of Preston North End sat seven points adrift of the division’s automatic promotion places but steered by a manager who has already secured two promotions to the Premier League as champions.

Whites boss Farke, though, who took Norwich City up as winners in both 2019 and 2021, admits that his past successes are “no guarantee” of repeating the trick at Leeds in the club’s bid to bounce back from last season’s relegation at the first attempt.

Instead, Farke, who admits his past promotions will certainly help, has highlighted his group’s “unity, spirit and togetherness” as potentially crucial as his fourth-placed Whites set out on the final 19 games of the Championship campaign.

Speaking ahead of today’s lunchtime showdown against Preston, Farke was asked about his past promotions and if that meant familiar traits with his current Leeds side.

"No,” warned Farke. “Because success in the past is never the guarantee that you are successful in the future. It helps, experience always helps when you have this experience of what is necessary to bring it over the line. If you have this experience it always helps, but it's never a guarantee you can repeat this success.

"What I like a lot is just the quality of my lads and the mindset of them and the unity and spirit. For me, especially in this league, unity, spirit, togetherness to be focused, to be on it are sometimes even more important than just individual quality.

"I think this will be crucial – to make sure that the team is really tight together and works for each other and repairs mistakes of individuals and sticks together also when the going is tough. Then to be there and show this mentality, I think this will be crucial in the end. Let's see how far we can get.”