Daniel Farke has laid down the law to Leeds United. What happens next will be fascinating

AFC BournemouthArsenalAston VillaBrentfordBrighton & Hove AlbionBurnleyChelseaCrystal PalaceEvertonFulhamLeeds UnitedLiverpoolManchester CityManchester UnitedNewcastle UnitedNottingham ForestSunderlandTottenham HotspurWest Ham UnitedWolverhampton WanderersScores & ScheduleStandingsFantasyThe Athletic FC NewsletterPodcastsMan Utd Table Carrick OfferThe Liverpool Blame GameRatcliffe’s Estimated Wealth FallsPL PredictionsDaniel Farke has laid down the law to Leeds United. What happens next will be fascinatingOn Friday, Daniel Farke said that his 'mission is fulfilled' at Leeds Andrew Matthews/PA Images via Getty Images Share articleDaniel Farke’s stock has never been higher at Leeds United, and it showed in his Friday press conference. With the club’s Premier League status secured for next season, their manager was in a reflective yet ambitious and bullish mood as he faced questions from reporters. Farke knew what he was doing. This was his opportunity, from a position of strength, to set his stall out for the negotiations ahead. He has always had confidence in his own ability but now he has proof of what he can achieve in the top flight with this Leeds team, 12 months on from promotion. Farke’s men are seventh in the division’s form table since they switched to a 3-5-2 formation and battered Club World Cup champions Chelsea in a 3-1 win on December 3. The 49-year-old German included enough dewy-eyed comments about the place the club has in his heart to suggest he wants to start a new project in West Yorkshire, but, crucially, not at any cost. If there is any element of their next chapter he does not align with, Farke will not stay on. In his eyes, if Leeds want to retain his services, the football department has to be run his way. If chairman Paraag Marathe and the board do have faith that Farke can take the club forward to something greater than fighting for Premier League survival, he would expect them to buy into that faith and give him the control he wants. Control seems to be the crux of the matter; the red line, the deal-breaker in all of this. Farke, who pointedly made it clear he would be a manager and not a head coach upon his summer 2023 appointment at a newly-relegated Leeds, wants to have the final say on anything connected to the football operation. If that is not something Leeds’ owners at 49ers Enterprises are prepared to give him, Farke seems to have made his peace with that outcome. It’s their club, their investment, their vision and he is a humble employee, a cog in the wider machine. He is happy with what he and his backroom staff have achieved in three years at Elland Road. It’s a mission accomplished in his eyes and if it proves to be the end of the road, he feels he can walk away with head held high, looking for the next project in his career. There was a reference that Farke made to going away on holiday after the season finale at West Ham United a week on Sunday and, finally, allowing himself the chance to reflect with pride on the past three years. Press conferences can be a blessing and a curse for football managers. On the one hand, the men in charge of teams are held to account at least twice a week for nine months, rain or shine, albeit answering different versions of the same question a lot of the time. Every word they say is scrutinised, and they have to be so careful to get their message right. On the other, they offer them a platform, a soapbox from which to speak. Farke used his to full effect on Friday. He does not feel he needs to pitch for a new contract. He has repeatedly reminded the media that it was Leeds executives who had to convince him to join the club in July 2023, not vice versa. And yet, Farke took his chance to explain his position on Friday. He was gracious in thanking the club for appointing him, the players for following him and the supporters for bringing Leeds into his heart. He said he was “properly infected” by the club now. He then moved into his successes. His lead, supported by the club, in improving the Thorp Arch training centre was followed by the value he had added to the price tags of Archie Gray, Georginio Rutter and Crysencio Summerville, whose sales eased PSR worries. Then there were the on-pitch achievements of promotion, a championship, a 100-point season, Premier League survival, a first FA Cup semi-final in 39 years, beating Manchester United at Old Trafford in the league for the first time since 1981. Farke was reminding the fans, and his paymasters, of what he has done over the past three years. And the subtext was, if you want to retain this successful figurehead, you have to share his vision and allow him to realise it with his methods. The tone was firm from Farke, and it will be intriguing to know what Marathe made of it, but the actual content was fair. Many fans would have surely nodded along with what Farke was saying. His tactical ideas best align with a top-half team: tick. He wants to manage a side playing for something (European qualification, trophies), not avoiding something (relegation): tick. He does not want the status quo: tick. He does not want Leeds to repeat the mistakes of summer 2021 (which led to the beloved Marcelo Bielsa being sacked the following February as a battle against the drop loomed): tick. He wants to keep the club’s best players: tick. He wants to improve the squad: tick. It’s hardly a controversial manifesto, and it’s difficult to see why Marathe and company would disagree on those aims. And yet, there was clear uncertainty from Farke on how the next few weeks may play out. He wisely acknowledged: “I know this club, and the people who run this club, are ambitious.” It would have been misguided to paint himself as the bold employee held back by the ownership’s shackles. Perhaps it is the ‘how’ rather than the ‘what’ which seems the biggest leap for him. Farke’s said his piece now. He’s set the parameters for what is to come in the weeks ahead. If Marathe speaks at the end of the season, as he has developed a routine of doing, it will be fascinating to hear his and the ownership’s side of the debate. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms