As Leeds travel to West Ham for an FA Cup quarter-final both teams could arguably do without, one thing is not in doubt: Daniel Farke knows how to read a balance sheet. As the holder of an MA in economics and a diploma in sporting directorship, the Leeds manager needs no reminders that, financially, avoiding relegation is infinitely more important than trying to win the FA Cup. “The Premier League’s our bread and butter,” he said on Thursday . “It’s our priority.”
There is, though, another side to Farke. Away from the training pitches at Thorp Arch, one of the German’s preferred ways of switching off is to spend hours reading on his sofa, transported to different worlds through his love of literary fiction. His favourite novels include Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Given Farke fully appreciates the best managers are, in a different context, similarly expert storytellers, can he resist pursuing a plot line that may just conclude with a survival and Cup glory double? Achieve that and the Elland Road hierarchy would find it very hard to resist furnishing the 49-year-old with the new contract he craves.
Hints of an underlying dilemma kept resurfacing on Thursday. “I’m a big believer in cup competitions,” he said. “We have the chance to achieve something special and unique. We’re taking the West Ham game very, very seriously.
“It makes no sense to wrap the players in cotton wool. Without doing anything stupid the players want to go in with a strong starting lineup. We want to grab this chance with both hands. But if we get the feeling someone has some physical problem we won’t risk them.”
In other words he fully appreciates that, while some gambles do pay off, fielding his first-choice starting XI in Sunday’s last-eight tie against a relegation rival would contain a sizeable element of risk.
As Wigan fans know, brave gambles can backfire. In 2013,Wigan beat Manchester City 1-0 to lift the FA Cup but, three days later, lost 4-1 at Arsenal and were relegated from the Premier League.
It was the first time any team had completed that particularly bittersweet double. “A real example of football’s reality – the highs, then the lows,” Roberto Martinez, now coaching Portugal, said later. “But teams can bounce back from relegation; cup glory lasts a lifetime.”
There is also the argument that simply winning matches builds confidence and momentum. Given Leeds have not their past six Premier League games – although four have been drawn – victory could prove a timely, possibly narrative changing, catalyst.
Leeds are four points and three places ahead of West Ham in the table with a significantly superior goal difference. Survival remains in their hands, but a series of key fixtures beckon, including trips to Tottenham and, on the season’s final day, a return to the London Stadium.
“We’re in the driving seat in terms of league position; we’re on a good path in the Premier League,” said Farke who was awaiting the results of a scan on Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s hamstring injury. “Dominic felt something during a possession exercise yesterday and we’ve decided to scan him. I can’t tell if he’ll be available on Sunday. But hopefully it’s just minor and he’s back training tomorrow.”
If there is a player Leeds really do need to wrap in cotton wool it is Calvert-Lewin. The striker marked his return to the England squad last week and retains an outside chance of boarding his country’s plane to the World Cup.
Farke trusts that possibility will reinvigorate a striker who has suffered a marked loss of form. After scoring seven goals in six games at the end of last year, Calvert-Lewin has scored twice in the league this year. Providing he is passed fit in time, might propelling Leeds to a first FA Cup semi-final since 1987 reignite his season?
Then there is the goalkeeping question. After losing his place to Karl Darlow, Lucas Perri has played only in the FA Cup this year. Does that pattern continue or will Darlow start?
Such decisions may be at least partly informed by annual accounts. The latest set released by Leeds showed a £49.2m pre-tax loss for the year ending June 2025. Farke knows that returning to the Championship would embroil a club currently embarking on an ambitious, and expensive, stadium expansion project in a real financial mess.
It explains why last month’s 1-0 home defeat to an under-strength, but organised Sunderland inflicted unusually hefty psychological damage at Elland Road.
Farke hopes securing an FA Cup semi-final place can banish any lingering self doubt. “We have a special group of players here,” he said. “It is so united and together that, if we secure Premier League survival and go further in the FA Cup, we can write a special chapter for this club. We all know we have the chance to write a bit more history.”
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