Leeds United would be mad to sack Daniel Farke – here’s why their Premier League charge will be totally different from his doomed Norwich teams

Though Monday was a glittering day in the storied history of Leeds United – beautiful images of the proposed expanded Elland Road stadium and a 4-0 win to put the title in their own hands this weekend – one factor brought anxiety to those of us who long to see the great club firmly embedded in the top flight again.

It was the way their opponents stank the house out. Bristol City are supposedly aspiring promotion candidates themselves, led by a thoroughly modern manager in Liam Manning who spoke pre-match about his players needing the right ‘behaviours’, as thoroughly modern managers do.

So, glorious though it was to see the divinely gifted Ao Tanaka and Manor Solomon making hay, the night merely underlined the monumental and growing chasm between the land Leeds have just dominated and the one where they will arrive next.

Which brings us to the question of who will lead them there and whether Daniel Farke, who has delivered promotion with more points than Marcelo Bielsa did, will be deemed unfit for the Premier League and sacked. A course of action which, as my colleague Mike Keegan revealed for Mail Sport last week, is under consideration.

It didn’t seem hugely encouraging when Paraag Marathe, the Leeds chairman, did not undertake an interview with Sky Sports on Monday which the broadcaster said he had originally committed to.

That had been the chance to commit publicly to Farke. The silence was deafening.

All the data about Farke and the Premier League is currently being trotted out. His 0.53 points per game in the division with Norwich City across two Premier League seasons which both saw the club relegated. He won six of his 49 games up there, drew eight and lost 35.

Some analysts of the game I admire, including Stephen Warnock and Gabby Agbonlahor, have argued that Farke is not a ‘Premier League manager’ and an idea exists that continuing with him now would constitute a merely ‘emotional’ response to promotion.

All of which, respectfully, I say is nonsense.

Leeds will arrive in the Premier League without two men who have done most to pilot them – chief executive Angus Kinnear and transfer adviser Nick Hammond, who are leaving for Everton.

They are promoted at a time when the challenges of staying up are more monumental than ever. Ipswich Town spent £110million and have still crashed.

Amid the almighty complexity of first-season survival and consolidation – something no promoted side has managed in the past two seasons – is it a huge stretch of logic to suggest that being equipped with a manager who knows what Premier League relegation looks like might actually be an asset?

Amid this clamour for change, do we seriously not believe that Farke, a man of quite obvious intelligence, will have learned something from the struggles which followed his two promotions at Norwich, in 2019 and 2021, and want to adapt?

After both those promotions, Norwich’s board were under the illusion that survival was possible with barely any spend. Their summer outlay on permanent signings in 2019 was £1m, when Aston Villa shelled out £140m. Farke was reduced to saying he wanted his players to channel their ‘naivety’ before the opening match at Anfield, where they were 4-0 down in 42 minutes.

Farke took the relegated club straight back up again, only to find the board’s same modest appetite for survival: a £58m outlay. He was sacked after 11 games.

Leeds’ owners have a diametrically opposite approach to the Premier League. The 49ers are going up there with those architects plans because they’re intent on staying. They will spend.

If Farke is defenestrated, then who exactly would be deemed more fitting to take over? The allure of the ‘bright young manager’ is always there, of course. Witness the 49ers’ interest in 39-year-old Russell Martin for Glasgow Rangers – a club they’re buying – despite his slavish commitment to a brand of football disastrous for Southampton. 

The bookies’ favourite to replace Farke is Norwegian Kjetil Knutsen, on the basis that he’s led Bodo/Glimt to the semi-finals of the Europa League. Good luck with that one.

Farke appears sanguine about the lack of public commitment to him. But he forged a team of all the talents after his stars left last summer, has learned to live with the indifference felt for anyone but Bielsa and has driven Leeds on.

Sacking him would be an act of lunacy and anything less than full public backing this weekend a travesty. Marching On Together they sang with a gusto which was moving to behold, late on Monday night. Whatever happened to that sentiment?

You’re on the wrong side here, Eni

My doubts about Eni Aluko go right back to the supposed ‘scandal’ involving her then England manager, Mark Sampson, in 2017.

I met Sampson, a decent man, a few times and wrote about it. She called me up, incandescent.

She declared last October that men are malignly ‘dominating’ broadcasting, coaching and agents’ roles in women’s football. Simply not true.

And now, she has gone on the BBC’s Woman’s Hour to warn that Ian Wright is ‘blocking’ opportunities for women.

Wright has been a fine, articulate, hugely valued ambassador for a women’s game which sorely needs such qualities. Does every man really need to be deemed the enemy?

About time for Petgrave’s absolution 

Common sense prevails in the case of Sheffield Steelers ice hockey player, Matt Petgrave, whom the Crown Prosecution Service yesterday announced will not stand trial for the manslaughter of Nottingham Panthers opponent Adam Johnson.

Such was South Yorkshire Police’s conviction that they would find some expert witness, they held the Canadian in the limbo of bail for 16 months.

Apologies do not follow announcements like this but the treatment of Petgrave has been shabby and inhumane. He is now free to reclaim his passport and return to a life which will never be the same.

Let Sharp grace his former home

All the old heroes have been back to Goodison for the Old Lady’s final few games and over 80 are expected for the swansong against Southampton.

I understand that Graeme Sharp, who has never been back after his boardroom advisory role ended in such acrimony, has met David Moyes in recent weeks.  Hopefully, he may yet grace the stadium where he thrilled so many.

Why superstars WILL be heading to Wrexham 

The notion of Wrexham signing free agents like Kevin De Bruyne and Jamie Vardy is not as crazy as it sounds, given that any star player looking for a post-career profile in the US can benefit from the help Ryan Reynolds would bring both as a marketeer and a superstar.

A fascinating recent addition to Wrexham’s board is American George Dewey, Reynolds’ business partner in his Maximum Effort marketing business.

He and I spoke at length for my book on the club, Tinseltown. He’s impressive. 

Forgive me for saying that the book, available in easy-to-handle paperback, reveals much more about him and them.