Despite Leeds United’s 2-0 win over Hull City, Daniel Farke was not all sunshine and roses in his post-match press conference.
Leeds’ victory against the Tigers brought an end to a chaotic month of August in which the mood around the club twisted one way and another.
All in all, Leeds can be pretty pleased with where they currently sit in the Championship, with the eight points they have accumulated taking them to fourth place.
Leeds remain unbeaten in the league, and also have a number of new signings to properly integrate into the side after a flurry of late transfer activity.
However, it would be fair to say Leeds did not quite land all of Farke‘s desired transfer targets and he was not afraid to make that clear after the game against the Tigers.
Smyth says Farke was unhappy after Leeds win
Four had been the magic number for signings around the midway point of August, but that changed towards the end when Farke expressed his wish for another number 10.
Despite interest in both Gustavo Hamer and Roland Sallai, Leeds were unable to get either over the line and so that is one area they are a little short, at least until January.
And according to Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Graham Smyth, Farke was not afraid to show his disappointment at Leeds’ end to the window.
Speaking on the latest episode of the Inside Elland Road Podcast, Smyth feels for the first time in his tenure as Leeds boss, Farke was distancing himself from some of the decisions made by both the board and recruitment team.
He said: “It was one of those occasions where a manager came into the press conference with a list of things he wanted to tick off. I did not have ‘young and interesting players’ on my bingo card, I have to say.
“When Farke sat down, I didn’t see it quite going that way because what precedent has there been since he was at the club. He has been 100 per cent the company man. He’s toed the party line, it’s all been about us, we as a club.
“He’s been the front man and the faced the music. When he’s faced tricky questions, he’s never once to my mind, marked himself as separate from the club or ownership. It has always been one entity. It wasn’t like that against Hull in the post-game press conference.
“It was different, unexpected and a little passive aggressive. Just a couple of messages have been sent, whether to the 49ers, recruitment team or fans just to manage expectation, the message was sent all the same. There is absolutely no way this is just me being dramatic and over interpreting it.”
Farke has every right to question Leeds’ board
It is understandable why Farke would be disappointed at some of the decisions made at Leeds over the summer.
Leeds promised after Archie Gray’s exit that his sale would help keep some of their other key players, yet both Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter followed him out of Elland Road.
Farke revealed last month that he had told Leeds’ recruitment team to prepare for life without them as early as January, and yet they were still scrambling around for replacements in the final week of the window.
What’s more, no club in world football generated more of a profit than Leeds in the summer and perhaps Farke feels more money should’ve been spent on the squad.
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