Leeds Hit the Century Mark in Style
Leeds United have been a joy to watch this season, setting the pace since the halfway point of the campaign. They’ve amassed over 100 points and scored freely, just enough to edge out closest challengers Burnley in a title race that saw both sides reach a century of points.
Daniel Farke’s high-intensity pressing and possession-based football have swept aside much of the competition, helping Farke win his third Championship title as a manager.
Under his guidance, Leeds have been dominant, relentless, and often irresistible.
A Familiar Dilemma for a Familiar Face
But should the club consider leaving their Championship specialist behind with promotion and the title secured?
Daniel Farke twice guided Norwich City to the Premier League, each time as a worthy champion of the second tier. Yet on both occasions, his side dropped straight back down, finishing rock bottom of the Premier League.
That track record raises a difficult question: is Farke the man to finally make it work for Leeds at the top level?
Has he reached his ceiling, or can he adapt tactically to the league above?
Or are some managers simply Championship promotion specialists by nature?
The Rise of the ‘Championship Virtuoso’
Football has long recognised the ‘Premier League survival expert’; old-school gaffers like Sam Allardyce, Sean Dyche, and Tony Pulis, who earned reputations for keeping clubs afloat with blood, sweat, and grit.
But now, is there an emerging category just beneath them: the ‘Championship virtuoso’?
These are typically younger coaches who dazzle in the second tier with expansive, attacking football, yet struggle to bridge the gap when the quality leaps in the top flight and a more structured, adaptable style is required.
Farke is not alone. Russell Martin, Chris Wilder, and even Vincent Kompany all share a similar pattern of following up impressive Championship campaigns built on identity and style, with relegation battles or the sack during their first year in the Premier League.
It’s becoming a familiar narrative that Leeds may now be forced to reckon with.
Backed by the Board—for Now
Leeds chairman Paraag Marathe, perhaps otherwise occupied as his group explores acquiring Scottish side Rangers, recently gave his manager the elusive ‘vote of confidence,’ stating:
“I have ended the speculation. He is my man.”
So, Pulis, Dyche, and Roy Hodgson can leave their phones on silent- for now, at least.
Promotion Was the Job, but What Comes Next?
In fairness, Farke has delivered precisely what was asked of him: promotion, and in style.
But the club’s ambitions won’t be satisfied with merely returning to the Premier League.
They will want to stay there and rebuild towards where their fanbase believes they belong: the top of English football.
For now, Farke deserves the chance to show he’s learned from past shortcomings and can finally crack the code of Premier League survival. But the decision to publicly back him could prove pivotal. It may define not only next season but the long-term trajectory of the club.
Will Leeds establish themselves again as a top-flight mainstay, or are they destined to join the ranks of modern yo-yo clubs, trapped in a perennial cycle of promotion and relegation?
Time will tell.
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