Daniel Farke must do something even the great Marcelo Bielsa could not do at Leeds and triumph in the playoffs.
Leeds have a 100 per cent failure record in the end of season showdown and they have missed out all five times they having.
They were one of the first participants and Billy Bremner’s side lost the 1987 Division Two playoff final after a replay and extra-time to Charlton at St Andrews.
They have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and somehow managed to lose the 2008 League One playoff final to Doncaster 1-0 after impressing that season.
Even Marcelo Bielsa was not immune to this disease and his Leeds side managed to lose 4-3 on aggregate to Derby in 2019, despite leading 2-0 on aggregate at half-time in the second leg at Elland Road.
Farke refuses to read too much into Leeds’ shocking playoff record, joking he has never lost a match in football’s equivalent of the lottery.
“You know how my record is in the playoffs?” said the Leeds boss. “I never lost a game because I’ve never played in the playoffs by the way. It doesn’t matter. Leeds have lost in the playoffs before, but it was a completely different group. I wasn’t in charge, so it doesn’t matter. Obviously we’re here to change it. That’s the reason why I’m here.”
A more pertinent concern to Farke is the way his Leeds team fell off a cliff after doing so well in 2024. They were unbeaten this year in the Championship until April 6 and had come like the winner in the Grand National, storming to the front, before their form vanished over the last six games.
