W hen Daniel Farke moved into the manager’s office at Leeds last summer one particular piece of advice soon started echoing in his ears. “Everyone told me: ‘You can’t rely on the playoffs for promotion because we never win,’” he said, grimacing slightly. “I didn’t know about the bad record when I signed my contract.
” Given that five previous involvements in Football League playoffs ended in five failures for Leeds, he would have preferred to avoid meeting Southampton in Sunday’s Championship final at Wembley. It possibly explained why he grinned through gritted teeth on Friday as he was told his amplified image had been projected on to the glass domed roof of the Trinity retail centre in Leeds city centre. Illan Meslier: ‘When you make mistakes you become better’ Read more While Farke admitted that, should his team stumble, shoppers will probably “throw tomatoes at it”, his Southampton counterpart, Russell Martin, expects to be labelled “a huge failure” if the Saints lose.
A match dubbed football’s richest – worth, according to Deloitte, at least £135m to the winner – is further spiced by the renewal of old managerial acquaintances. In 2017-18, Farke ended Martin’s lengthy career as a Norwich defender, making him train with the under-23s before loaning him to Rangers. Although the latter acknowledges he did not like the decision, the pair emphasise their relationship is now so cordial they enjoyed post-match drinks after Southampton�.