32 days after the departure of Sam Allardyce, the tortuous wait for his replacement is over.
Leeds today unveiled Daniel Farke as the new manager at Elland Road. The German has signed a four-year contract until 2027 and given his first interviews to the local media.
Farke, a two-time Championship winner at his former club Norwich City, faces a gargantuan task. The protracted takeover of the club by 49ers Enterprises has put Leeds on the back foot relative to the other likely candidates for promotion, Leicester City and Southampton in particular. The new Championship season commences only a few weeks from now and there is no chance of the rebuilding of the squad being completed by then. It wouldn’t be at all surprising if Leeds were to get off to a sluggish start.
Patience will be of the essence here. In his first season at Norwich, Farke could only manage a finish of 14th. The club kept faith and he duly repaid them with two Championship titles. He’s a modern, progressive coach whose teams are generally rather technically accomplished and given to playing attractive football, which is something the last three Leeds managers failed to deliver. This, married to his titles, means he’s a popular choice, but you wonder how popular he’d be if Leeds failed to win any of their first five games. I’ve always believed myself that one of the reasons for Marcelo Bielsa’s spectacular success here was that he hit the ground running. Instant buy-in from the players on the pitch to the supporters in the stands. Can Farke do likewise? I doubt it.
That’s not to say that the German won’t be a success. Given time and resources I confidently expect that he will be. I just think that for the first couple of months the board and the supporters will need to be patient. There’s an opportunity with Farke to build something long-term. Clearly the club feel that way, given the length of his contract. Let’s take it. Burning through managers like a northern version of Watford is never the way.