- Farke proves doubters wrong by adding vital physical experience to Leeds.
- Clement faces challenge of breaking Norwich City’s cycle of Prem relegations.
- Recruitment strategy must balance youth with veterans like Sunderland with Xhaka.
When it comes to Leeds and Daniel Farke, I’m reminded of a classic quote by Oscar Wilde.
“Comparison is the thief of joy”.
Joy
With the insanely topsy-turvy nature of this season, the scenes of fans on the pitch celebrating despite not getting the victory against Swansea said it all.
Yes, we spent money this season. No, we did not get promoted, nor indeed did we make the playoffs.
But it could have been so much worse.
Defiance
That being said, it is hard not to take an envious glance toward Farke’s Leeds and imagine what we could have done better.
For example, Sean Longstaff was arguably the player who would have been the equivalent of Oliver Skipp.
While I am always grateful for Teemu Pukki, he could have benefited from having someone like Dominic Calvert-Lewin alongside him.
Mistakes
Another quote commonly attributed to Oscar Wilde is, “Experience is what men call their mistakes.”
While it may sound a bit smarty-pants, it is a pretty fair thing to say. This was also built on by Yoda in The Last Jedi, who said, “Failure is a great teacher.”
While there was hesitation from Leeds fans about Farke’s ability to manage the team at the highest level, he managed to prove the doubters wrong.
The biggest thing was that he gave his squad the additional experience and physical presence that was not available to him both times when he managed Norwich City in the Premier League.
Our lesson
Norwich City have an unfortunate record in terms of Premier League relegations, more than a lot of clubs.
Breaking this cycle will prove difficult. In recent times teams have spent over £100 million in a season and still got relegated.
Elsewhere in the table, Chelsea have spent over £1 billion over the last few seasons and are struggling to crack the Champions League spots.
While spending money is important, what Phillipe Clement has shown is that it is equally important to work with the resources you have and build on them.
This is where Sunderland were smart – their young squad was also bolstered by the likes of Premier League veteran Granit Xhaka.
Of course, this is something that Norwich City won’t be able to future-proof in the next window. But it is a factor that will have to be considered should Clement be able to take the team to the next level.
