Leeds United chairman addresses Daniel Farke comments and manager's Elland Road future — YEP 4/6/26

By Graham Smyth

Leeds United chairman Paraag Marathe has responded to Daniel Farke's recent comments on ambition and addressed the manager's Elland Road future.

With Premier League safety secured, Farke used a pre-game press conference to put on record his feelings about the immediate future.

The German said that all the boxes had been ticked on his and 49ers Enterprises' first project and now it was time to sit down and discuss the next steps, but if maintaining the status quo was the goal then he was not the right man for the job.

Farke defined ambition as keeping the club's best players and avoiding the mistakes of the summer 2021 transfer window when the team was not sufficiently strengthened.

"I'm not bothered by it," said Marathe, speaking to the local press in London. "I love his ambition. I have ambition too, I think it was probably for him - and I'm happy for him - probably a moment to just [let out a ] sigh, it was relaxation for a minute.

“We've arrived, and he doesn't have to constantly be answering questions about, 'are we going to survive or not?' I will say this, though. I talk to Daniel all the time. We are on the same page. We always have been.

"Daniel doesn't need to pitch me on the next three-year plan, and by the same token, I don't need to pitch him on what the three year plan is going to be like. Leeds is bigger than him, and Leeds is bigger than me, it's bigger than all of us.

“What we have done that I'm proud of, and that we all should be proud of, is we got Leeds on a track going in the right direction at the right speed. And we're on the train right now, I'm on the train, Daniel's on the train, we're all on the train.

“I'm excited about him coaching the squad, and hopefully we'll be doing it much longer than this season as well. But it isn't about one selling the other on ambition, we already have ambition, and Leeds has ambition, and what we've done is we've got it on the track that we just got to keep it going,

Marathe was pressed on Farke's contract, which runs out in the summer of 2027, and though he would not talk specifics he revealed that talks will take place.

"My hope and expectation is that he's with us for a while," said the chairman. "I know that he's got another 12 months, but I think we both have an interest in keeping this going. At the right time and in the right way, we'll have those conversations. He's a big part of our future."

"I think that's maybe a little bit of a misnomer”

Another of Farke's recent comments that caused a stir with supporters was that he would only take on a project when he was in charge of the footballing decisions. Marathe denied that at any point in their three-year relationship decision-making power had shifted one way or another and explained that everyone with a stake in recruitment still had a veto.

"I think that's maybe a little bit of a misnomer, because I don't think any power changed over the three years," said Marathe.

"He is a very, very important part of what we do in the football side, and it always has been that way. Instead of saying who has the power to say 'yes I'm going to go sign this player, go get this player,' I think the better way to say it is actually upside down, is who has the right to say 'no, this person doesn't fit.' And that is all of us.

“Everybody's in this together, we are not going to sign a player that Daniel doesn't want or that doesn't fit his system. Period. He has all the power in that sense. We're also not going to sign a player that costs £500 million, because it just doesn't work, so maybe in that sense I have the power. We're not going to sign a player that doesn't fit whatever contract structure.

“In that sense Adam [Underwood, director of football] and Robbie [Evans, managing director] have the power. It's actually really rewarding. The group works really well together but everything is always run by him first and last in terms of 'does this player fit?' and could we do this or this compromise or that sacrifice or trade off. So I don't think it was necessarily about reasserting power. I think it was just let's make sure that we keep it in the same system."

Marathe put on record his admiration for the 'phenomenal' job Farke and his staff did this season, guiding Leeds to a 14th-place finish in the Premier League.

He also praised Evans, Underwood and those working in recruitment for the work they did to build a top flight side, the medical department for keeping players healthy to division-leading effect. And he said the boardroom contains a 'special' group who all pitch in with their expertise in various areas.

"We have a really special thing going, and my hope is that we just stay on track and keep it going," he added.