American-owned Leeds coached by promotion specialist Farke on fast track back to Premier League
Leeds United manager Daniel Farke gestures to the fans after the final whistle of the English Football Championship soccer match between Leeds United and Millwall, at Elland Road, in Leeds, England, Sunday March 17, 2024. Top of the table and heading toward promotion back to the English Premier League, the American owners of Leeds can feel happy with their offseason hire of coach Daniel Farke. Leeds went top of the second-tier Championship on Sunday, March 17, 2024 beating Millwall 2-0 and taking advantage of long-time leader Leicester’s FA Cup quarterfinals duty at Chelsea. Credit: AP/Richard Sellers
With Leeds on a fast track back to the English Premier League, its American owners — including golfers Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas — can feel happy they picked the right club and the right coach to revive it.
The San Francisco-based 49ers Enterprises ownership group had its ups and downs at Leeds before taking full control last July of a team recently relegated from the Premier League.
It had hired German coach Daniel Farke, who specializes in promotion to the top tier.
Leeds moved atop the second-tier Championship on Sunday by beating Millwall 2-0 hours after longtime leader Leicester lost in the FA Cup quarterfinals at Chelsea.
“You have to be there with a smile on your face and to enjoy sometimes, but also to stay humble,” Farke said of being back on top.
Farke won the Championship title in his last two seasons in the league — leading Norwich to lift the trophy in 2019 and 2021.
Farke proved to be a smart offseason pick by the investment operation of the NFL franchise that just two weeks later completed a full takeover of Leeds where it first invested in 2018.
Leeds United's Mateo Joseph, right, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the English FA Cup fifth round soccer match between Chelsea and Leeds United at Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. Credit: AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth
His task was to rebuild Leeds after a chaotic season in the Premier League which saw four different coaches oversee a slump toward inevitable relegation.
American coach Jesse Marsch started the campaign and lasted until February, and the season ended with Sam Allardyce — whose time as England coach in 2016 lasted only one game — in charge for a winless four-game stretch.
Relegation had not been the plan for some potential owners in the 49ers group and Spieth revealed one intended partner, Rickie Fowler, withdrew when Premier League status was lost.
“Relegation wasn’t ideal,” Spieth said last year, "but we got involved with the 49ers group about purchasing a larger share and getting in with them doing things so successfully as they do everywhere they’ve touched.”
Leeds United's head coach Jesse Marsch prior to the English Premier League soccer match between Nottingham Forest and Leeds United at City Ground stadium in Nottingham, England, Feb. 5, 2023. Top of the table and heading toward promotion back to the English Premier League, the American owners of Leeds can feel happy with their offseason hire of coach Daniel Farke who replace Jesse Marsch. Leeds went top of the second-tier Championship on Sunday, March 17, 2024 beating Millwall 2-0 and taking advantage of long-time leader Leicester’s FA Cup quarterfinals duty at Chelsea. Credit: AP/Rui Vieira
Under Marsch, Leeds was as high as 12th in the Premier League in late December 2022, yet won only three games after Jan. 1 with a squad that included United States national team players Tyler Adams, Brenden Aaronson and Weston McKennie.
That script has flipped in the lower division with Farke, whose teams typically surge when the calendar changes and he settles on a favored lineup and tactics.
Leeds has won 12 and drawn one of its 13 league games in 2024, adding to Farke’s remarkable record in the second half of the season in the second tier.
In his title-winning seasons at Norwich, Farke never lost a league game in January and March, and started winning streaks in February of eight games in 2019 and nine games in 2021.
This Leeds run is even better.
On Jan. 1, Farke’s team was in fourth place trailing Leicester by 17 points. On Monday, Leeds is tied on points with Leicester, which has played one game fewer, but leads on the tiebreaker of goal difference by a single goal.
“We know Leicester has a game in hand and can move back to the top of the league," Farke said Sunday, "and I expect them to move back with a game in hand.”
Farke will have doubters about his top-tier credentials despite outsmarting Pep Guardiola in just his fifth game ever in the Premier League.
Norwich’s stunning 3-2 win over Manchester City in September 2019 was a false dawn in the pandemic-hit season. When games resumed in empty stadiums in June 2020, Farke’s team lost all nine rounds by a combined score of 23-1.
Farke led Norwich to another promotion, then was fired when last in the Premier League in November 2021. A brief stop in Russia at Krasnodar was ended after the invasion of Ukraine without managing a game and Farke had an unremarkable 2022-23 season with Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Now he is back in the division he knows best, re-energizing three-time English champion Leeds and its famously raucous stadium Elland Road.
“We have a good base situation right now,” Farke said Sunday, “to finish really in a top position.”
That is exactly the potential Spieth and the other owners saw.
“It’s a big city, historic club, great venue in Elland Road,” the major champion said last year, "and once we looked into it we realized it could be really exciting.”
