BBC NEWS; Leeds United’s ex-CEO references Birmingham City in his warning to Daniel Farke.
Keith Wyness has advised Leeds United against firing Daniel Farke at this point.
In an interview with Football Insider, Wyness cited Birmingham City’s termination of John Eustace as a cautionary tale about the consequences of firing a manager prematurely.
Eustace had done a fine job at Blues, guiding the Midlands club into the play-offs, but the St Andrew’s leadership was not satisfied.
They hired Wayne Rooney as Eustace’s replacement, and it proved to be a pivotal time in the season for all the wrong reasons, as Birmingham were relegated to League One at the conclusion of last season.
Leeds United are presently in sixth place in the 2024/25 season, a promising start.
| Championship table (1st-6th) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (As of September 24th, 2024) | P | GD | Pts | |
| 1 | West Brom | 6 | 8 | 16 |
| 2 | Sunderland | 6 | 9 | 15 |
| 3 | Burnley | 6 | 9 | 13 |
| 4 | Blackburn Rovers | 6 | 6 | 12 |
| 5 | Sheffield United | 6 | 6 | 12 |
| 6 | Leeds United | 6 | 5 | 11 |
The Whites secured their position in the play-offs with a 2-0 away win against Cardiff City last weekend. However, it remains to be seen if they can keep it.
Keith Wyness warns Daniel Farke of Leeds United.
Despite their promising start, Leeds manager Farke has had a difficult time since his team has squandered points in games when they should have won.
The team’s Carabao Cup loss to Middlesbrough was disappointing. They might have improved with a win over Portsmouth and a draw against Burnley at home.
Despite these dismal losses, Wyness feels Leeds should not rush to remove Farke.
He told Football Insider: “Birmingham is a great example of owners who thought they knew everything about football, but hired Wayne Rooney and ended up in League One.” That is a serious illustration of what may go wrong when you act too soon. They made several major blunders.
“American owners can do that, but so can any country; there have been bad British owners as well.
“It’s a hunger for success, but it doesn’t always come easily in football.
“I think Farke is a good manager for Leeds.” He’s had to reorganize the group and get things rolling, so any knee-jerk reaction would be inappropriate.”
Keith Wyness is correct regarding Daniel Farke.
Farke is a good manager with experience at this level.
Leeds would be unlikely to follow Birmingham’s lead in sacking their manager, considering the Whites have a highly good group capable of securing promotion.
However, the Whites currently have stability under Farke, and fans should continue to believe in him.
Wyness makes the legitimate point that Farke has had to re-adjust his roster due to the amount of movement in and out of the club over the summer.
And, after leading the team to 90 points last season, he deserves another chance at promotion with West Yorkshire.
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