Toby Wilding

Tue 6 May 2025 17:44, UK

Daniel Farke has helped Burnley manager Scott Parker in a big way with the recent uncertainty over his Leeds United future.

Both managers have enjoyed memorable spells with their clubs over the course of the 2024/25 campaign, following disappointment the season before.

After their play-off final defeat last season, Leeds will return to the Premier League in the 2025/26 campaign as Championship title winners after a final day win over Plymouth.

But after being relegated from the Premier League last summer, Burnley will also return to the top-flight next time round, having matched the Elland Road club’s remarkable 100-point tally.

Since then however, the two managers have been the focus of some rather different types of speculation around their futures.

Daniel Farke overcomes Leeds sack talk

For Farke, it has been a difficult spell despite guiding his club to promotion, in which he has faced strong speculation about losing his job.

After the Whites’ return to the top-flight was confirmed, there were suggestions Leeds could consider sacking Farke due to his previous record in the top-flight with Norwich.

The German had previously twice guided the Canaries to promotion to the Premier League, but was immediately relegated after that first success.

In the wake of his second promotion with the Carrow Road club, he was then sacked after just 11 league games with the club bottom of the table.

Indeed, it was subsequently reported that Leeds had indeed considered replacing Farke as a result of that history, although chairman Paraag Marathe’s comments have since suggested that will not be happening, but only after he reportedly was turned down with an offer to Jose Mourinho.

Burnley boss gets different Premier League reception

It is worth noting that Parker himself has a very similar record when it comes to his varying fortunes between the Championship and Premier League.

The former Chelsea and Charlton midfielder first took charge in the top-flight when he was appointed Fulham manager late in the 2018/19 season, and was unable to prevent relegation.

After he then won promotion from the second-tier in 2020, his first full season managing in the top-flight ended with the Cottagers suffering an immediate relegation back to the Championship.

That led to Parker leaving by mutual consent, at which point he took charge of Bournemouth ahead of the start of the 2021/22 campaign.

It was a move that again delivered him success in the Championship, with the former England international guiding the Cherries to promotion in his first season in charge.

Once again though, a return to the Premier League failed to work out, as he left in the wake of a 9-0 thrashing by Liverpool in just the fourth game of that 2022/23 season.

As a result, Parker’s two post-promotion managerial spells in the top-flight of English football read very similarly to Farke’s – one relegation, and one sacking early in the campaign.

Parker linked to Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham job

Yet despite that, there have been few questions if any about whether the 44-year-old’s job at Burnley ought to be under threat in the same way there has been with Farke at Leeds.

Indeed, Parker has even been touted as a replacement for Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham, linking him with arguably one of the top jobs in the division.

Clearly that is in stark contrast to the scrutiny Farke has faced, and had it not been for the focus on the German, you wonder if those qustions might have been asked of the Burnley boss instead.

Both managers have surely earned their latest chance in the Premier League given the excellent work they have done with their respective sides this season.

But the fact that Farke and Parker have gone up together, may have helped to ease some of the imminent pressure on the latter, who may have faced such questions himself in different circumstances.