Leeds United's Wembley jinx stops Daniel Farke in his tracks ahead of Norwich City clash — Leeds Live 15/5/24
Daniel Farke had to stop himself from saying something he would regret if Leeds United end up reaching Wembley play-off final
By Beren Cross
Jinxing a Wembley trip if Leeds United get there is the last
thing Daniel Farke wants to do, but the first thing he now expects after 10
months at the club’s helm. The manager now knows all too well, if the Whites
can do things the hard way, they will, and he doesn’t want to tempt fate with
comments that may bite him down the line.
After Sunday’s draw with Norwich City, Farke was riled up
about several decisions which did not go his side’s way. The first-half
challenge on Wilfried Gnonto by Borja Sainz which neither yielded a penalty nor
a free-kick and Junior Firpo’s disallowed goal were red rags for Farke in his
post-match press conference.
It was not only those decisions which prompted talk about
video assistant referees in the Championship, but a litany of officiating
errors over the course of the season. Farke stopped short of calling for VAR in
the regular season because of that potential jinx at Wembley, but went as far
as saying Leeds would have already been promoted if VAR had officiated their 46
league games in 2023/24.
“I’ll tell you what, if I ask right now for VAR and we are
that fortunate that we go to Wembley, I know already if I'm asking for this,
VAR goes not in our favour for Wembley,” he said. “So for that, I don't ask for
it, definitely not because I believe in karma and it's always the same.
“If we would have used VAR in order to make sure we have
fair decisions during this season, we wouldn't be in the play-offs. We would be
already automatically promoted, that’s definitely a fact.
“So for that, you can imagine what I think about VAR at the
moment. Overall, in general, if you don't have VAR, we have to make sure the
decisions of the referee on the pitch have to be spot on.