American-owned Leeds, led by promotion expert Farke, is returning to the Premier League quickly.
The American owners of Leeds, who include golfers Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, can now relax knowing that they made the right choice in hiring a new coach and team to bring Leeds back to the English Premier League.
The ownership group of 49ers Enterprises, located in San Francisco, experienced ups and downs at Leeds before assuming complete control of a team that had just been demoted from the Premier League last July.
It had brought on German coach Daniel Farke, an expert at elevating teams to the highest division.
After longstanding leader Leicester fell in the FA Cup quarterfinals against Chelsea, Leeds defeated Millwall 2-0 on Sunday to take the lead in the second-tier Championship.
When it comes to winning again, Farke stated, “you have to be there with a smile on your face and to enjoy sometimes, but also to stay humble.”
In his final two seasons in the league, Farke won the Championship title, helping Norwich to win the trophy in 2019 and 2021.
Farke turned out to be a wise off-season choice for the NFL team’s investment operation, which completed a full takeover of Leeds, where it had made its first investment in 2018, in just two weeks.
His mission was to turn Leeds around following a disorganized Premier League season that saw four different coaches supervise a decline toward certain relegation.
The season began with American coach Jesse Marsch, who led the team until February. Sam Allardyce, who coached England for just one game in 2016, took over for a winless sequence of four games.
Some prospective 49ers owners had not anticipated relegation, and Spieth disclosed that one partner, Rickie Fowler, had withdrawn when the team’s Premier League status was forfeited.
“Last year, we got involved with the 49ers group about purchasing a larger share and getting in with them doing things so successfully as they do everywhere they’ve touched,” Spieth said. “Relegation wasn’t ideal.”
Leeds played in the Premier League as high as 12th place under Marsch in late December 2022, but they only won three games after January 1 with a group that featured players Tyler Adams, Brenden Aaronson, and Weston McKennie from the US national team.
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