Interviews with Leeds United head coach candidates will continue into next week and any interest from Daniel Farke is sure to include his first-hand experiences of the club. During his four-and-a-half years with Norwich City, the German faced off with the Whites on five occasions.
There were low-key wins traded between two mid-table Championship outfits across 2017/18 before the seismic away victories each side took as juggernauts in the 2018/19 title race. One of Marcelo Bielsa’s few Premier League wins in 2021/22 came in what proved to be Farke’s final Carrow Road clash.
It was that 18/19 campaign which should stand out for most United supporters. Norwich, soundly beaten 3-0 on their own turf in August, saw the natives turning on Farke as they filed out of the ground.
Nobody on that day would have foreseen the Canaries’ subsequent run to the title. That and the 2021 second-tier crown will be the honours Farke hangs his hat on in interview.
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It was the Elland Road meeting which really turned heads in that season. By February, when Norwich arrived in West Yorkshire, the two sides were at the summit of the table and facing off under the LS11 lights.
Bielsa’s Leeds, by then fully ingrained in the Argentine’s philosophy, were dismantled by Farke’s Norwich. It was a 3-1 home defeat, but the away boss was well aware just how hard it was for his side to overcome a vociferous home crowd.
"To have such a night against such a good side,” he said at the time. “It's so complicated to play against Leeds and in this atmosphere, in the spicy atmosphere in a sold-out place, to produce this result is outstanding.”
Aside from returning to employment and the challenge for all coaches in professional football, the stature and backing of Leeds must be of significant appeal to him.
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