When Daniel Farke moved into the manager’s office at Leeds last summer one particular piece of advice soon started echoing in his ears. “Everyone told me: ‘You can’t rely on the playoffs for promotion because we never win,’” he said, grimacing slightly. “I didn’t know about the bad record when I signed my contract.”
Given that five previous involvements in Football League playoffs ended in five failures for Leeds, he would have preferred to avoid meeting Southampton in Sunday’s Championship final at Wembley. It possibly explained why he grinned through gritted teeth on Friday as he was told his amplified image had been projected on to the glass domed roof of the Trinity retail centre in Leeds city centre.
