Leeds United: If The (Flat) Cap Fits — Unexpected Delirium 25/4/25

It barely took a couple of days after promotion before speculation started swirling surrounding manager Daniel Farke.

Ian King

As a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur myself, I am plenty familiar with that feeling that they’re doing it again, and in the case of Leeds United and the debate concerning the future of manager Daniel Farke following him taking the club back into the Premier League with room to spare, it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that, having wrapped promotion up with so little fuss, and with this being Leeds United, something big had to be just around the corner.

There is logic behind both of the opposing viewpoints on this matter. On the one hand, there is something instinctively counterintuitive about both the ethical and the practical aspects of getting rid of a manager who’s just taken you to promotion. But then again there is a case to be made for saying that replacing a manager at the start of the summer is a more pragmatic way of looking at things than hanging onto him, building your squad over the summer, and then sacking him ten games into the season in the manner that Manchester United did with Erik ten Hag at the end of last season.

Farke’s record in the Premier League is not great, but it is absurd to not take into account the tools he had at his disposal at that time. Norwich City, where he previously managed at that level in this country, were both literal and figurative Canaries in the coalmine for the concept of the modern Top Flight Yo-Yo Club, a phenomenon that we seem likely to see far more of in the future as the wherewithal gap between the Premier League and the Championship continues to grow. Norwich are currently 14th in the Championship; it’s difficult to make much of an argument that they’ve benefited since parting ways with him in 2021.

After this, he spent six weeks in Ukraine before war broke out and was then sacked by Borussia Moenchengladbach after just one season. But there are different ways of interpreting Farke’s return to Germany, too. On the one hand, the team finished 10th again, matching that of the previous season under their previous head coach.

But then, the guy Farke replaced had been sacked too for finishing 10th and on top of that, Farke’s points tally was lower while there were also complaints about ‘passionless’ performances from his team. There’s a decent justification for the decision in there, but even so it doesn’t quite completely feel like an open and shut case.

It’s fair to say that Leeds United have expectations. A couple of years’ of Premier League television money, 30,000-plus crowds, the huge reach of the club’s name and parachute payments mean that any manager of a freshly-relegated Leeds team has substantial advantage over his rivals in the Championship. Promotion was probably expected last season, only for them to fall at the last hurdle in the playoff final.

But they stuck with Farke, and he has done the job this time around. Should Leeds win their final two League games of the season, they will run up 100 points. That makes for 190 points over two seasons. They are the highest scorers in the division by 25 goals. Were they to run up eleven in their last two games (unlikely, but they did score six in their last one), they would end this season with 100 of those, too. Both of these tallies are significant improvements upon last season. In terms of points, it could be 19 should they win those last two games. In terms of goals, it’s already eight.

Perhaps the point here is that while yes, Leeds United have a huge financial advantage over, say clubs like, Preston North End, Bristol City or Millwall at this level, that gap is considerably smaller against some of the others, and it’s against those teams that the tests which define the difference between success and failure are usually found.

Those advantages can be gossamer thin. Leeds’ 3-1 playoff final defeat against Southampton—a team with the exact same ambitions as them at the time—was the difference between triumph and disaster at the end of a 49-match season. There was no accounting for Ipswich Town running up 96 points in their first season following promotion from League One, either. This is likely why Farke kept his job last summer.

It’s possible that he could be unsuccessful at a higher level again. Any newly-promoted manager is at obvious risk of that. 17th will always be the first aim, and Premier League football is very different to Championship football. Had Leeds not gone down in 2023, for example, they wouldn’t have had to play 11 more League matches the following season. It may also be the case that these are now such different disciplines that a head coach could have the skill-set for one and not for the other. And this works both ways, of course; could Pep do it on a cold, rainy night in Stoke?

Ethics matter. While yes, yes, yes, football is a multi-billion pound business these days and that’s all very important, it does feel almost as though this a breach of something like an implied contract clause, that no matter what question marks may hang over any manager who’s just won promotion regarding his competence at that higher level, he’s earned that chance through getting them there in the first place. We all understand that ‘it’s only business’ and it certainly wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened, but it still leaves a sour taste in the mouth when this sort of talk starts.

And then there’s the small matter of it being leaked to the press with a couple of games still left to play. Could this not have been left until at least all 46 matches had been completed? By the looks of things, the celebrations that followed confirmation of promotion in the city centre were pretty wild. A hangover is to be expected under such circumstances, but did it have to be impounded by this story being leaked into the wild at this moment when it could have been kept behind closed doors for another couple of weeks?

Of course, some clubs exist in a state of permanent febrility, and that has been the case with Leeds United for more than a quarter of a century now. Passions can run high around that club, and there remain a number of supporters who are persuaded by the arguments against him staying on. But even they can surely agree that it might have been nice to have a couple of weeks to bask in promotion and take in a couple of stress-free games without all this angst poking its head around the door again.

When Leeds fans relate to someone, they really relate to them. This same ‘heart vs head’ argument came up in the case of Marcelo Bielsa, and it still feels as though this particular manager casts a long shadow over Elland Road. Both parties have moved on since then, but such a relationship can change attitudes. Consider this list:

Kevin Blackwell, Dennis Wise, Gary McAllister, Simon Grayson, Neil Warnock, Brian McDermott, Dave Hockaday, Darko Milanic, Neil Redfearn, Uwe Rosler, Steve Evans, Garry Monk, Thomas Christensen and Paul Heckingbottom.

That right there is a list of Leeds’ permanent managers up to Bielsa going back 21 years and, with the best will in the world, there aren’t many who set the pulses racing, are there? There are certainly no Don Revies on it. Bielsa found that connection. Revie built that connection. But is it something that could be achieved again?

Because if there is one interesting twist to this tale, it’s that the one name that keeps repeatedly brought up as a potential successor is Ange Postecoglou, a manager who absolutely could reach Bielsa-like levels of devotion with supporters. Postecoglou had that at Celtic and he initially had it at Spurs. If that was a realistic destination, it is actually an appointment that would make perfect sense, and perhaps for both parties.

Daniel Farke will never reach Don Revie or Marcelo Bielsa levels of popularity at Elland Road. That sort of thing doesn’t come around very often. But the facts remain that the reasons for parting ways are vibes-driven, while the reasons otherwise are better grounded in the reality of the team that he’s built for this season.

And he’s not the only person with responsibility for the success of this club, either. Managers are often the most highly visible cogs in the complex wheels that football clubs can be, but they can be used as human shields for others, at times, too. What about CEO Angus Kinnear leaving for Everton come the end of this season? Responsibility for summer transfer activity, meanwhile falls onto the shoulders of transfer consultant, Nick Hammond.

Leeds have lost one League game since the end of November. They’re the Championship top scorers by a country mile and they just confirmed promotion last Monday with a 6-0 win. They might end the season with 100 points. Are they good enough for the Premier League? Will they be good enough with some investment during the summer? Who knows. To a point, it feels like a display of self-sabotage to even be having this conversation, at this precise moment in time.