Leeds United chiefs will feel justified in ignoring Nottingham Forest tip but verdict will come in May | OneFootball

Leeds United are in a great position going into the festive period to put together a real push for the top-two. Their hierarchy will be very pleased about their decisions over the course of what was a difficult summer.

When Leeds were relegated last season, there was utter chaos on the manager front. Jesse Marsch was sacked, and they eventually hired Javi Gracia, who only lasted 12 games, after a caretaker spell from Michael Skubala.

There were only four games of the campaign left when Sam Allardyce was appointed, so he was given an uphill battle to keep them up and he, ultimately, failed.

Over the summer there were plenty of rumours about who would be given the task of getting the club back to the Premier League. It was eventually settled that Daniel Farke would take them forwards, but Leeds did have eyes on someone else.

Who did Leeds consider appointing instead of Farke?

Like every time a club needs a new manager, so many names get linked with the job, but according to The Athletic, there was one who was a standout for some of the Leeds hierarchy.

After a week of interviews, some were still not convinced by Farke and wanted Steve Cooper in the Elland Road dugout, even though it meant trying to prize him away from the Premier League and Nottingham Forest.

Cooper had excelled in the Championship immediately. He was hired by Swansea City after a spell in charge of the England youth sides, and he got them to the play-offs.

Unfortunately for him, he couldn't take Swansea back to the Premier League in the 2019/20 season, but he went one better a year later as he got them to the play-off final. After losing to Brentford in that final, he was brought to Nottingham Forest, and it was third time lucky for Cooper as he finally achieved promotion via a top-six finish.

The Welshman managed to keep the club in the Premier League even though the club made 30 signings over the whole campaign and was up against constant chatter that he could be sacked. He got deserved praise, hence why he would seem to be a lucrative option for a side that had just been relegated in Leeds.

However, even though he was wanted by one individual at boardroom level, it was Farke who was given the job; a decision that's paying off.

Can Farke get Leeds up?

As it stands, the Leeds board will be more than pleased with their decision to go with the former Norwich City manager. They are one of the sides who look like they can seriously threaten the top two of Leicester City and Ipswich Town.

Their game against Leicester at the King Power Stadium is the biggest evidence of that as they were deserved winners on the night, winning 1-0 through a Georginio Rutter goal. They also turned Ipswich over at Portman Road.

Farke has Leeds playing attractive, winning football, with a front-four to envy in the Championship. He's navigated Leeds through a tough summer where off-field chaos impacted results early on, before turning a corner and making the Whites genuine automatic promotion contenders, looking ahead to 2024.

Meanwhile, Cooper is under pressure at Forest, who have only won three games. Even though Everton have a ten-point deduction putting them in the bottom three, they are only six points above the Toffees and could slip into trouble.

Leeds should be happy about who they went with for of the two, but the real judgment only comes at the end of the season, as we all know.

There has been hope that Leeds could take second place after their momentous victory at Leicester, but the fact Ipswich have dropped points recently to West Brom, Rotherham United and Birmingham City has increased that hope heading into their meeting with the Tractor Boys on December 23rd.

If Farke can continue to get the best out of the attacking quartet of Cyrsencio Summerville, Dan James, Rutter and Joel Piroe, then he will have every chance of achieving that ultimate goal.

With his experience over Enzo Maresca and Kieran McKenna in these scenarios, having won the Championship title twice whilst at Norwich, it would be brave to not envision Leeds coming for one of those top-two places.

Farke has made this into a fight for automatic promotion when it appeared that the top two were going to run away with it in the opening three months of the season. At this point, that is the biggest reason why there should be delight around the appointment and the direction Leeds settled on; the Whites have a man with know-how and someone fighting their corner that knows what it takes to make 2024 successful.