For Daniel Farke, coaching was never originally part of the plan. When Daniel Farke retired, he originally saw himself in the role of a sporting director, and had no designs on coaching, instead taking his badges to understand how a football club operated in the dressing room as well as in the boardroom – it was there he discovered a taste and a talent for the role. The path from his spiritual home, SV Lippstadt where he made his name over three spells as a player, and also took up his first coaching role, has taken him around Europe, to difficult places to go to, and even harder places, to get out of. And that’s just Norfolk.
Daniel Farke in his playing days was a prolific striker in the regional divisions of Germany for the lesser known Lippstadt, by his own admission ‘the slowest striker in western Europe’ but also a man who knew where the goal was, turning in well clear of 100 goals in roughly 300 games over three different spells, comprising around six years all in all. In that time he’d helped the club to promotions to the German 4th tier, kept relegation at bay, and his final spell as a player saw the club drop down two divisions due to a restructuring of the German system. By the time he returned 12 months later having finished his badges, he found a club languishing deep in the bowels of the German league system – the 6th tier to be precise. In the off season in 2009 he found his way back to Lippstadt to fill the roles of both head coach and sporting director, intending to hold the fort until the start of the season, but soon changed his mind, and both club and coach agreed he should stick around. The club chairman lauded his relationship with his squad, and how he sold them on his vision of the future for the club, and for themselves as players. Over six years that level of vision took SV Lippstadt from the 6th tier to the 4th tier, and in the 11-12 season, their record of 87 points and only one defeat in the season, was the best in the top 6 levels of German football.
Farke intended to take a year out of the game after leaving Lippstadt in 2015, but soon found himself at Borussia Dortmund coaching the reserves – a useful experience working under Thomas Tuchel. A respectable record over two seasons caught the eye of the then-new director of football at Norwich City, Stuart Webber. In May of 2017, having failed to agree a new contract with Dortmund, Farke did indeed take the long winding road to Norwich, which is where Leeds fans first became acquainted with the German.
Farke had an inauspicious first season with Norwich, finishing 14th with the most average possible record of 15 wins 15 draws and 16 losses. By the time Bielsa’s Leeds visited Carrow Road in the 18/19 season, Farke had yet to truly shine for the canaries and the pressure was starting to build. A 3-0 win for Leeds left Farke’s Norwich in 17th with 4 points from 5 games, with a squad yet to deliver on the promise within – but deliver they did. That 3-0 defeat proved to be a lesson for Norwich, and by the time Norwich pitched up at Elland Road for their 30th game of the season they had only lost once more. A 3-1 win followed, sending Norwich to the top of the league,which is of course where they finished that season – League champions with 94 points, and Teemu Pukki taking home the golden boot with 29 league goals for the season.
Norwich did of course spend the next three seasons bouncing between the top two divisions of the pyramid, finishing bottom and going down, then top and going up, and then bottom and going down again – though Farke wasn’t there to see Norwich down in that final year, having been sacked and replaced by Dean Smith in early November of the 20/21 season. It remains a mystery of course whether Farke could have kept Norwich up that season, but no manager is a miracle worker. Farke would claim, with justification, that a lack of investment in his squad on both attempts they had at the Premier League meant it was always going to be a struggle to beat the drop, let alone kick on into mid-table. Farke left Norwich having never really had a fair crack at the English top flight, but with a reputation for playing an attractive and attacking style of football, and having proven himself in the 2nd tier. It’s this reputation that Leeds are hoping to build off of this season.
In January 2022, Farke was appointed the head coach of FC Krasnodar, a club looking to kick on in the Russian Premier League who had liked what they had seen of Farke. They never got to see it up close. In February of last year, Russia invaded Ukraine. In protest of the decisions taken by the Russian government, Daniel Farke resigned his position in March 2022, a mere two months after signing his contract, and without managing a single competitive fixture – Krasnodar’s season had actually been due to start two weeks before, but Krasnodar’s airport, which the squad were due to travel from, had been forced to suspend all activity due to the start of the war.
On leaving Russia, Farke signed with Borussia Monchengladbach, doubtless tempted by the idea of finally competing in his country’s top flight for the first time in his career. In the event, it was a mediocre season for Gladbach, a 10th place finish out of 18, punctuated by a 3-2 win over Bayern Munich. Though there was a flicker of real promise in Farke’s work, mutterings of tactical inflexibility and a lack of a true goal scorer made his brand of football look too safe, and it wasn’t enough to prevent Farke becoming Gladbach’s 3rd managerial casualty in 3 seasons.
So from Germany to Norwich to Russia, all the way back home and finally Farke arrives at Leeds. The club obviously like the German’s sense of identity, born out of his conviction in his ideas. Though the appointment took a while, the 49ers have arrived at a man with a proven record at this level, and a philosophy similar to the Argentine Bielsa school which were such a succes on the pitch and which resonated with the fans so intensely. He’s been clear that this side needs at least 75 goals to achieve what the club needs to achieve this season, and he’s planning on sticking around for the long term – Farke hopes a four year deal at Elland Road gives him the chance to finally prove himself in the Premier League.
While of course it’s tricky to work out just what system Farke might land on given the current state of flux running all the way through the squad, it’s clear that Farke likes to have a proven goal scorer in the side, and he likes to make his teams as organised off the ball as they are brave on it. Farke sides move the ball quickly, and score plenty, and manage to be very disciplined all the same – in their last promotion season Norwich ranked 3rd lowest in the league for offsides, in spite of how heavily they scored and how quickly they moved the ball through the phases. It does also point to the level of movement on show in the forwards they had, and how well coached Farke had his attacking unit. Whether these principles are carried through wholesale or if Farke has developed his ideas since his time in Norfolk, time will tell. What can be certain Leeds have landed on a coach with clarity in his ideas, who is confident, principled, and as much as anything else, well travelled.