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Daniel Farke is facing a defining week as Leeds manager, with senior figures at the club expecting him to be sacked if his side lose home games against Chelsea and Liverpool.
Leeds were unfortunate to be beaten by an injury-time Phil Foden goal at Manchester City last Saturday, but because it was their fourth successive defeat, and sixth in seven matches, patience at Elland Road is wearing thin.
Leeds are in the relegation zone with Burnley and Wolves, and Farke’s position is likely to be untenable unless he secures at least one positive result against Chelsea on Wednesday and Liverpool on Saturday. If the owner, 49er Enterprises, is to make a change it wants a new manager in charge in time to have input over January transfers.
Multiple sources at Leeds have privately conceded that Farke’s fate is in the balance, although there is sympathy for him in some quarters owing to a belief that results have not reflected some positive performances.
The 49ers also have a stake in the ownership group at Rangers, who last week sacked the chief executive Patrick Stewart and sporting director Kevin Thelwell, having removed Russell Martin as head coach after 17 games in October. The Leeds chair, Paraag Marathe, is the vice-chair at Rangers.
Leeds will have money to spend in January, with the 49ers desperate to keep the club in the Premier League, not least because they have committed tens of millions of pounds to redevelopung Elland Road, with BDP architects appointed to oversee a project that will increase the capacity to more than 53,000.
Farke came close to being sacked days after leading the club to promotion last summer owing to doubts about his ability to keep the club in the Premier League, but after talks with Marathe he was backed to start the season. Significantly Farke was not given a new contract, indicating that to some extent he remained on trial.
Farke was backed with significant summer money, with Leeds spending more than £100m on 10 players. The manager has bemoaned the failure to sign more attacking options, with the striker Patrick Bamford released at the end of August without being replaced, but others at the club have raised questions about the quality of the players he brought in amid accusations that he favoured physicality over technical quality. The midfielder Sean Longstaff and left-back Gabriel Gudnumdsson are regarded internally as the only unqualified successes.
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The key recruitment adviser Nick Hammond left Leeds for Everton last summer after the chief executive Angus Kinnear had made the same switch, with the club appointing Adam Underwood from head of football operations to sporting director.
