Daniel Farke is anticipated to be named Leeds United’s new head coach within the next 24 hours.
The 46-year-old German will be joining a team that fans and the new owners of the team are hoping can achieve promotion to the Premier League, something he accomplished twice as manager of Norwich City.
Leeds, who were relegated from the Premier League the previous season, can now focus on getting ready for life again in the Championship thanks to his impending appointment.
The American owners of Leeds, who include golfers Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, can now relax knowing that they made the right choice in hiring a new coach and team to bring Leeds back to the English Premier League.
The ownership group of 49ers Enterprises, located in San Francisco, experienced ups and downs at Leeds before assuming complete control of a team that had just been demoted from the Premier League last July.
It had brought on German coach Daniel Farke, an expert at elevating teams to the highest division.
After longstanding leader Leicester fell in the FA Cup quarterfinals against Chelsea, Leeds defeated Millwall 2-0 on Sunday to take the lead in the second-tier Championship.
When it comes to winning again, Farke stated, you have to be there with a grin on your face and to enjoy sometimes, but also to keep modest.
In his final two seasons in the league, Farke won the Championship title, helping Norwich to win the trophy in 2019 and 2021.
The NFL team’s investment operation made a wise offseason choice in Farke, as it completed a full takeover of Leeds, where it had made its initial investment in 2018, in just two weeks.
His mission was to turn Leeds around following a disorganized Premier League season that saw four different coaches supervise a decline toward certain relegation.
The season began with American coach Jesse Marsch, who coached the team until February. Sam Allardyce, who coached England for just one game in 2016, took over for a winless sequence of four games.
Some prospective 49ers owners had not anticipated relegation, and Spieth disclosed that one partner, Rickie Fowler, had withdrawn when the team’s Premier League status was forfeited.
We got involved with the 49ers group about purchasing a greater part and joining in with them doing things so successfully as they do wherever they’ve touched, Spieth said last year. Relegation wasn’t ideal.
Leeds, who had players Tyler Adams, Brenden Aaronson, and Weston McKennie for the United States national team, won just three games after January 1st, 2022, despite ranking as high as 12th in the Premier League at the end of December 2022.
With Farke in charge of the lower division, this narrative has turned on its head. His clubs usually improve as the seasons change and he locks into a preferred lineup and game plan.
Leeds has added to Farke’s incredible record in the second half of the season in the second tier by winning 12 and drawing 1 of its 13 league games in 2024.
Farke never dropped a league game in January or March during his championship-winning seasons at Norwich. He also began winning streaks in February that lasted eight games in 2019 and nine games in 2021.
It gets better than this Leeds run.
Farke’s club was 17 points behind Leicester on January 1st, in fourth position. Leeds and Leicester, who have played one fewer game, are equal on points as of Monday, but Leeds has the advantage in the goal differential tiebreaker by one goal.
Farke stated on Sunday, I expect Leicester to go back with a game in hand. We know they have a game in hand and can move back to the top of the league.
Farke outwitted Pep Guardiola in just his fifth Premier League game ever, but he will have people questioning his elite abilities.
