Pundit raises concern over Daniel Farke's future at Leeds United as Norwich City looms | OneFootball

Adrian Clarke has questioned the future of Leeds United manager Daniel Farke ahead of Thursday’s play-off clash against Norwich City.

The Whites drew 0-0 in their first leg meeting at Carrow Road last weekend, making this effectively a one-leg shootout to decide one of the play-off finalists.

The Canaries will travel to Elland Road to face Farke’s team on Thursday evening, with the winner set to meet either Southampton or West Brom at Wembley Stadium on 26 May.

Leeds finished third in the Championship table, missing out on automatic promotion to Leicester City and Ipswich Town.

Failure to gain promotion at the first attempt could be a huge blow to the Yorkshire side’s long-term plans, and could call into question the manager’s future at the club.

Adrian Clarke questions Daniel Farke’s Leeds future

Clarke believes it would be a major failure from Farke if Leeds do not at least reach the play-off final this season.

While he has predicted the Whites to go through, he has called into question the German’s future at the club if they don’t get through Norwich midweek.

“I still would side with Leeds because I genuinely think they are just one good goal away from kick starting that battery again,” said Clarke, via the What the EFL?! podcast.

“But until they get it they could limp out of the whole campaign.

“It is a huge game because it will be a failure for Daniel Farke and the players if they at least don’t make the final.

“You would fear for Farke’s future in the job if he doesn’t get it, so high pressure, high stakes but I still think Leeds are the better team.”

Farke was appointed manager at Leeds last summer following the club’s relegation to the Championship.

The 47-year-old previously guided Thursday’s opponents Norwich to promotion to the Premier League twice during his time as manager at Carrow Road.

Farke’s record at Leeds United

Farke got off to a slow start at Leeds, with the team struggling for form in the early stages of the campaign.

That proved their undoing in the race for automatic promotion, as the gap to Ipswich and Leicester proved too big to bridge.

The Whites had earned their way into the top two in the closing stages of the season thanks to a sensational start to 2024, but that form proved unsustainable.

Leeds lost four of their final six league games, ultimately finishing six points behind second place Ipswich.

Play-off defeat to Norwich would be underwhelming result for Leeds

Many tipped Leeds for a top two place at the start of the season, but they couldn’t quite keep pace with a remarkable Ipswich side.

Finishing third and still going up through the play-offs would be an acceptable result for the club, as promotion would still be achieved regardless.

But missing out on even a spot in the play-off final would be a disaster for Farke.

While he might just about survive that kind of disappointment through to the start of the next season, he would be under immediate pressure to get good results to put the team in place for a top two finish in 2025.