Daniel Farke looks to be the man in the frame for the vacant manager’s role at Elland Road. The German manager appears to have won the race for the Whites’ top job, but the takeover hold up seems to be delaying an announcement.
However, in one of the shortest pre-season campaigns in recent times, that does prove a rather large hitch in Leeds' preparations for the new Championship season. The Whites have less than five weeks to go until their opener against Cardiff City and the new man must attempt to cram as much in as possible in order to get his message across.
It’s a tricky task and while the club remain calm, supporters are starting to get a little anxious. Hands are tied somewhat, but the head coach will be putting a pre-season plan together and doing his homework on his players behind the scenes to give himself the best chance of hitting the ground running.
It’s a unique period, but the sooner Farke, if, as expected, the job goes to him, can get to work, the better. With that in mind, Leeds Live take a look at how Farke has started at his previous clubs.
Read more: Leeds United set pre-season scene as Championship preparations step up
Borussia Dortmund II
First five: W: 3 D: 2 L: 0
Farke took over Dortmund’s reserve side in November 2015 after catching the eye during his time with lower league outfit SV Lippstadt. They were in the German fourth tier and struggling for traction before Farke’s arrival, but he seemed to make an immediate impact.
Of course, given the timing of his appointment, he wasn’t given long to get his ideas across to his new players, but they seemed to respond and the German led the club to a 2-0 win over Wattenscheid in his first game. A 6-0 home win over Wegberg-Beeck followed as Farke really started to build a head of steam and get his side moving in the right direction.
Dortmund scored a late equaliser to bag a point against Essen before going into the winter break with a comfortable 4-2 win over Dusseldorf. Viktoria Koln held the club to a point after the restart in February, but a run of two defeats in 16 games saw the club climb from the relegation zone to finish fourth in the Regionalliga West in what can only be described as a fine first season.
Norwich City
First five: W: 1 D: 1 L: 3
Things didn’t go quite as smoothly at Norwich after taking over at Carrow Road from Alex Neil. The German was given a full pre-season in East Anglia and enough time to prepare for what was a tough start for the Canaries as they travelled to face Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Norwich had to come from late in west London to snatch a point as Nelson Oliveira cancelled out Russell Martin’s first-half own goal. That was followed up by a 3-1 home defeat to recently-relegated Sunderland a week later, before finally claiming his first league win in English football by seeing off QPR on home soil.
Aston Villa saw off Norwich comfortably 4-2 in their fourth game of the season before newly-promoted Millwall thumped the Canaries 4-0 at The Den, in what was a clear low point during his first season in charge. In truth, Farke’s first season at Norwich was a challenging one as the club struggled to find any sort of traction before eventually finishing 14th in the second tier.
Borussia Monchengladbach
First five: W: 2 D: 2 L: 1
It’s fair to say Farke’s stint at Monchengladbach could hardy have gone better. As his first pre-season with the Bundesliga outfit came to an end, the club thumped lower league side Oberachern 9-1 in the first round of the German cup. That was followed up with an impressive 3-1 home win over Hoffenheim as Farke made the perfect first impression at Borussia Park.
They could only muster a 2-2 draw with strugglers Schalke in their first away game of the season, but Hertha Berlin were edged out 1-0 the next week to ensure Gladbach were second in the Bundesliga when they went to Bayern Munich in late August. Farke’s side led for much of the game through a Marcus Thuram opener before being pegged back late by Leroy Sane, but holding Bayern to a draw was certainly seen as a strong result.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t build on it as they lost 1-0 to Mainz on home soil at the start of September, bringing expectations back down to reality slightly. Farke only spent one season with Borussia Monchengladbach but he led them to a 10th place finish in Bundesliga.
