How Daniel Farke is masterminding another Leeds promotion push after the heartache of last season's Championship play-off final defeat and the loss of THREE star players, writes ADAAM PATEL
Share:
On an April night at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Mayfair, four Leeds United players picked up accolades at the annual EFL Awards. The day before, Daniel Farke’s side suffered their first home defeat of the season in the middle of a run of four points across their last six games which killed their chances of going up automatically.
![[Daniel Farke's side suffered a slump towards the end of the campaign and fell out of the automatic promotion places]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/05/17/93757601-0-image-a-2_1736098231812.jpg)
Losing at Wembley to Southampton in the Championship play-off final was the nail in the coffin. Of those four players, three were gone by August with Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter all sold as Leeds banked £105M. The other, club captain Ethan Ampadu, only returned to action last week after sustaining a knee injury in September.
![[Leeds suffered an agonising play-off final defeat by Southampton at Wembley in May]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/05/17/93757619-0-image-m-4_1736098239049.jpg)
Yet Leeds have five more points than they did at this stage last season and are crucially top of the tree in their bid to return to the top-flight. ‘At the start of the season, I wasn’t thinking about winning the league,’ Farke told reporters last week. ‘I was thinking how can we be successful losing so many key players.’.
![[Farke retained the confidence of Leeds' owners 49ers Enterprises after their late season collapse]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/05/17/93757691-14252265-image-a-5_1736098376054.jpg)
Leeds racked up 90 points in the Championship last season but failed to gain promotion. Daniel Farke's side suffered a slump towards the end of the campaign and fell out of the automatic promotion places. Leeds suffered an agonising play-off final defeat by Southampton at Wembley in May.
![[The Elland Road club began the campaign with a demoralising 3-3 draw against newly promoted Portsmouth]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/05/17/93757695-14252265-image-m-7_1736098453831.jpg)
Defeat at Wembley was painful. Not least after winning 90 points - a tally that would have seen Leeds go up automatically in every season since 1998. On the pitch, the likes of Ampadu, Gray and Rutter were in tears after investing so much across 49 games. Off the pitch, Farke spoke about ‘suffering’ but told his players to use it as motivation in their bid to return to ‘The Promised Land’ - a term he used repeatedly.
![[Farke revealed that he was not aware of Premier League release clauses in some of his player's contracts]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/05/17/93757697-14252265-image-a-8_1736098460898.jpg)
