Former Norwich City favourites offer Leeds United promotion boost | OneFootball

Former Norwich City players Christoph Zimmerman and Alexander Tettey have backed their former manager, Daniel Farke, to get Leeds United over the line in this tight Championship promotion race.

The German boss led the Canaries to two title wins whilst the pair were in the squad and it seems they have no doubt that Farke will be able to do it again with Leeds.

Zimmerman and Tettey back Farke to take Leeds up

"Right now, if you're in that position, he's the manager you want in charge because he's done it before," Zimmermann told Leeds Live.

"He knows what it takes to win promotion. He does not panic and turn on the players or start pointing fingers when things don't go right. He will always find an answer.

"I had it for six years, one-and-a-half with Dortmund's reserves and four-and-a-half with Norwich. I'm not going to lie, it's left a mark on my body. The training week is tough, but it does pay off in that we were able to win so many games late on.

"You can never tell towards the end of the game that Leeds are running out of air, or they have nothing left in the tank.

"If it's still a draw, fine, because they can still go the extra yard, still make that extra sprint, still get that cross in or get in the box at the right time.

"Once the players feel that all the hard work and all those long training sessions pay off and get you results, they buy into it. That's what it looks like when I watch Leeds' games."

Tettey echoed his former teammate's sentiment. He added: "He has done this twice. It's not like he did it in the play-offs; he won the titles both times so he will have all the players' attention and that will help them a lot. It's massive.

"It is a special time of the season where things are being decided. You either make it or don't and you need to have a certain group of players to cope with that.

"In his match day speeches or before a training session, when he mentioned the crunch time, we all knew what that meant. We all knew what had to be done so there was no panic from any of us when he mentioned it."

Daniel Farke is facing different challenges than he has before in the Championship

Of the three managers who are battling for the top two spots, the 47-year-old has by far the most pedigree to fall back on.

The two second tier titles, plus his experience of coaching at the top level in Germany, put him ahead of Enzo Maresca and Kieran McKenna in that regard.

But, for the first time in one of his Championship promotion runs, his side haven't been comfortably at the top of the league for any period of time. In fact, he has no control over whether his team gets automatic promotion.

Even if Leeds win against Queens Park Rangers, Ipswich Town can still overtake them if they win their games in hand, and Leicester City can book their spot in the Premier League this season with a win over Preston North End.

These are different circumstances that he's been in compared to the ones in the past.

Leeds' current situation isn't all bad though. A win in London against Marti Cifuentes and his team would put real pressure on an Ipswich side that haven't played a game for two weeks to win both of their games in hand.

But, at the end of the day, Farke and his team are still relying on others. They just need to make sure that they keep their two challengers honest by finishing off the season with a brace of wins, and then they can see where they stand at the end of it.