Daniel Farke on how Leeds United's old-school values got them through springtime wobble to win promotion to the Premier League — Yorkshire Post 23/4/25
By Stuart Rayner
Daniel Farke claimed the mature way his Leeds United players
handled a springtime dip in form reminded him of the spirit of squads he once
played in.
When the Whites drew four games and lost one out of six
either side of the March international break, some supporters had flashbacks to
the way they missed automatic promotion in Farke's first season in charge.
Four defeats and only two wins from the last eight games of
2023-24 saw them drop into the Championship play-offs, where they lost to
Southampton in the final.
But 12 months on they steadied the ship with four straight
wins to secure promotion at the expense of Sheffield United. Now they must
match Burnley's results in the final two games to win the title.
Last season Wembley defeat led to key figures Archie Gray,
Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter exercising release clauses to leave
for Premier League clubs. Farke felt the togetherness and selflessness of this
season's squad allowed them to overcome their blip.
"Leadership is important but all the praise goes to the
players and their mentalities," said the former striker, whose playing
career in Germany’s lower leagues ended in 2008.
"We have great character and great spirit in the group,
especially when you add into the final stages of the season everyone is
thinking a bit about the future, contracts, whatever, but not this group.
"This group is tight together.
"They are professional football players and they have
to do the job but in this group it feel really special and unique, a reminder
of the old days where there is a bunch of friends on the pitch.
"No one is really selfish, they are celebrating even
when a competitor for his position has a top performance or scores a goal.
Everyone is happy for them.
"They love to repair mistakes and stick together.
"That is also a key reason why in these times we were
able to keep our nerves and bring it over the line. This group is pretty
special."
Captain Ethan Ampdau felt belief was the most important
thing for Leeds to recover in the run-in.
"We had a spell where we weren't happy with our
performances and we had to regroup after that and get back to our levels,” he
reflected.
"Thankfully we've done that.
"I'm not sure there was any magic ingredient, it was
just getting back to believing in ourselves and not doing anything special,
just what we normally do."
If Leeds were to beat play-off-chasing Bristol City (home)
and bottom-of-the-table Plymouth Argyle (away) in the final week of the season,
they will become the first team in the club's history to win 100 points in any
division. Last season – Farke's first in charge – they finished third with 90.
"It's an impressive achievement after 44 gamedays to
already be on 94 points," said Farke, who won 94 and 97 points in his
Championship-winning seasons with Norwich City.
"It's the best points tally this club has ever had in
any season. Also, 89 goals is also right up there with still two games to play.
"It's a little reward for what the lads have done this
season – outstanding consistency, outstanding performances, we are so hard to
beat and we're scoring goals for fun, creating so many chances.
"If all the goals hadn't been ruled that should have
stood we would already be close to 100.
"The lads are playing really well and doing really
well.
"The most important thing is always the position in the
league and our biggest aim was to get promoted to the Premier League. What we
have achieved this season with hard work and really proper football is second
to none."
Also guaranteed promotion, Burnley are at Queens Park
Rangers on Saturday, before hosting Millwall in the final round of matches
seven days later.