Thirty-two days after Sam Allardyce’s last day at Leeds United and 33 days before Cardiff City rock up at Elland Road, the Whites finally have a new manager. Daniel Farke, after what has felt like two weeks of rumours and speculation, has been confirmed on the second day of pre-season.
Ultimately, Leeds could not afford to wait any longer. United needed a figurehead on the pitches at Thorp Arch tomorrow when the footballs come out of the bags with the players.
There was testing at Leeds Beckett University on Monday, running at the training ground today, but starting tomorrow without a manager was a step too far. Hopes at boardroom level of a swift takeover process through the EFL have not come to fruition, so 49ers Enterprises has had to swallow its hopes of making Farke its first official decision.
Ultimately, you will struggle to find anyone outside the club caring about the order of announcements and the fact Farke is, technically, Andrea Radrizzani’s appointment. Everyone knows the German is the first hire of the new era, nothing to do with the Italian, but the product of a recruitment hunt led by Angus Kinnear and Paraag Marathe.
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The job title really does say everything about the process behind the scenes. Farke asked to be a manager and not a head coach. The 46-year-old wants to be more involved in the wider organisation of the club and, crucially, more involved in transfers rather than a coach out on the field waiting for players to be sent his way.
Farke has been authoritative from the start of the interview process. Far from grovelling on his knees for another shot in English football at one of the country’s most storied institutions, he has such faith in his ability and Championship track record, Farke has listened to Marathe and Kinnear’s own pitches about their vision for Leeds.
The former Norwich City boss sees himself as a Premier League manager. He is coming to Elland Road to be a Premier League manager and that striking four-year contract speaks volumes. Two second-tier crowns in five years, 191 points and 168 goals effectively confirms Farke has nothing left to prove in the Championship.
Yet, if a return there is his route back to where he feels he, and Leeds, belongs, then he’s coming in with the control and confidence to do that. That level of assurance, backed by the cold, hard data and his free agency, was too alluring for Marathe and Kinnear.
Farke would nose ahead in the process via the video call stage of the search, which is ultimately what edged it for him. All four of the candidates they met in London for face-to-face talks equally impressed United’s top brass.
There were, understandably, glowing reviews from some of those players Farke led to titles at Carrow Road too. United’s dressing room leaders had reached out for verdicts and they all came back with positive noises.
The decision was virtually there 10 days ago, as the final few interviews and fact-finding missions came to a close. Yet confidence in the swiftness of the EFL ratification failed to bring things to the conclusion Marathe et al wanted.
They could not afford to let it drag out any longer and the players will surely be all the better for it as they are greeted by their new leader in the morning. A third title in six years with the same brand of attractive football played in Norfolk will make it all worth the wait.
