Hard work, honesty and joy are likely to have been key factors Daniel Farke raised in his job interview to become Leeds United’s next head coach. The Gerrman is widely expected to be confirmed as the club’s new boss after impressing through an interview process which concluded in London last week.
Chairman-elect Paraag Marathe led the process alongside chief executive Angus Kinnear, with assistance from the likes of director Peter Lowy and San Francisco 49ers supremo Jed York. After the in-person interviews in the capital, Farke emerged as the preferred candidate and it has been a waiting game since then.
While the club waits to make its announcement, it’s been possible to pick back through Farke’s past interviews to get a gauge of the coach and how he is likely to have sold himself to Marathe. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ended his tenure prematurely, the 46-year-old spoke to Krasnodar’s channels about his philosophy in January last year.
“Hard work is quite important because the players are all professional football players,” he said. “Each and every football player, even each and every coach, are always complaining about tough work and we have to sacrifice a lot, but in general, we're also leading a pretty privileged life and allowed to work in the spotlight and to do what we love, to play football, and to earn our money with this.
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“We're leading a pretty privileged life and I'm a believer you also have to give something back. Hard work, top fitness level, to be really fully focused on your job is always quite important.
“Honesty. I love to be honest because I don't like any vanity in the dressing room. So I will be honest, honest to my players. I also don't believe in psychological games. When everyone is criticising the team, then it's more like then you praise them or the other way around.
“I got the experience as a player, but also as a coach. The players want honesty, even if it's sometimes tough and strict, but honesty, it's quite important. Joy. I want to have fun because football is still a game so, of course, it means sometimes more than life, but, in general, we want to have fun. We play football for the supporters, so we want to entertain them.
“I know football is quite often about contracts and business and money. This is also an important side, you don't have to be naive, but you still have to keep in mind football is still for supporters and for the game itself. So you also need to have joy. So these values: hard work, honesty and joy are quite important. My playing philosophy is also built on these topics.”
On the coaches he admires and has been influenced by, Farke said: “There were some coaches in the past I really liked to follow. We had a pretty famous coach in Germany.
“His name is Ottmar Hitzfeld. He won the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. I liked him a lot and, especially, also how he was able to lead a group and try to get the best out of each and every player. As a coach, I've worked quite closely with Thomas Tuchel. I know Jurgen Klopp quite well and it's also not a secret I am good friends with Pep [Guardiola].
“I wouldn't label them as idols anyhow, or I tried to copy them. When you talked with them about football there's always something you can take.”
