‘I want to keep this club in the promised land’: Farke’s mission to keep Leeds up

The trampoline man. It sounds like a promising title for a novel, film or even a song but it is a label Daniel Farke remains desperate to avoid. To the Leeds head coach, the term “trampoline manager” carries no hint of glamour, let alone romance.

Farke knows that after winning three promotions to the Premier League, the first two with Norwich, and enduring two immediate relegations he could do without his latest bounce into the big time prefacing a swift tumble back to the Championship. No matter that there are persuasive factors for those two relegations – mainly involving a severe shortage of money. Mud sticks.

In Farke’s case, the received wisdom that he is not quite an elite-level tactician seems unfair, but it surely informed the slew of headlines last spring suggesting that his reward for leading Leeds back into the top flight would be the sack.

Eventually Paraag Marathe, the Leeds United chair, declared “He’s my man” and calm was restored. But Farke will have noted that, when the rumours first surfaced, Marathe stayed silent for a few days, biding his time before ultimately quashing all speculation.

It dictates that the German could do with hitting the road running – and ideally on Monday night when Everton and their Manchester City loanee Jack Grealish arrive at a sold-out Elland Road.

“We are respectful,” Farke said as last Friday. “We know how difficult it will be. Everton are a good side and had a really good second half of last season. But our mindset is to win games and be the better side.”

Aesthetics have always mattered to him and his faith in controlled domination of possession and patient build‑ups served the team well in the Championship. Yet Farke remains acutely aware that Russell Martin’s flawed vision of Southampton passing and moving their way to survival last term proved a cautionary tale. He has responded by embracing compromise.

Three respectable pre‑season draws against Milan, Villarreal and Manchester United suggest that the decision to spend the summer creating a taller, tougher, harder‑to‑beat side with a new‑found aptitude for set pieces could pay dividends.

“I’ve always been in the mindset not to do the selfish things in my career, but to do things when I’m convinced ‘I need to do this’,” Farke said. “I want to leave this club in a better place than when I arrived. I’m just focused on taking the next step for Leeds United. I want to keep this club in the promised land. It’s a club which belongs in the Premier League. The fanbase is second to none.”

His eight summer signings stand on average just over 6ft 2in and only two, the 5ft 11in left‑back Gabriel Gudmundsson and midfielder Sean Longstaff, are under 6ft.

While the 6ft 4in defensive midfielder Anton Stach is expected to anchor that department against Everton and the 6ft 6in goalkeeper Lucas Perri will start in goal, the 6ft 3in Slovenia centre-half Jaka Bijol is suspended after a sending off for Udinese late last season.

“Being without Jaka is not ideal,” said Farke, who seemed rather more upbeat when he dismissed concerns that part of his attack is now staffed by two injury-prone strikers.

After leaving Wolfsburg and, by coincidence, Everton this summer, Lukas Nmecha and Dominic Calvert-Lewin are now on the Leeds payroll and will compete to replace Patrick Bamford, who has been told to find a new club. Given that the decision to offload Bamford was all about a catalogue of recent injuries, the recruitment of Calvert-Lewin looks a high-stakes gamble.

Farke demurs. “Dominic has all the skills you’d like your striker to have. It’s a chance for him to revive his career and reach those former heights when he was outstanding at Premier League level. The key for him is not to be over-motivated. We’ll build his fitness step by step so he can find rhythm and confidence in his body. If we do so, he can be outstanding for us. But I wouldn’t rule out another striker signing. There’s no doubt we need attacking reinforcements. Dominic is the first step but we need more.”

With the impressive Tottenham loanee Manor Solomon no longer at Leeds, Farke is very much in the market for another winger. For the moment at least Jack Harrison has a chance to re-establish himself – the only problem being that, after spending the past two seasons on loan at Everton, he is extremely unpopular with his parent club’s fanbase. “Jack’s a top player,” Farke said. “He’s definitely won all the players and staff here back during this pre-season. Now he has to win the supporters back. It’s up to him.”

Upstaging Everton’s new Jack would be a good start as Leeds aim to prove hostile hosts. “It’s crucial to have a good home record,” Farke said. “We made Elland Road a fortress last season. We know it will be more difficult now but we have great unity and a great bond with our supporters. We will need them this season.”