On occasions, a stat emerges – like in the aftermath of Leeds United’s 1-0 win over Middlesbrough on midweek – that makes you wonder where you would even go to find out a fact like this.
As Dan James fired Leeds United back to the top of the Championship table – his second minute strike at the Riverside enough to leaving Neil Warnock love-struck and professing his adoration for the rapid Welshman in the Sky Sports studio – Daniel Farke’s trusty wideman took his tally for the season to 12 goals.
Junior Firpo picked out Manor Solomon with a ‘fantastic’ through ball. The Tottenham Hotspur loanee then squared the ball intelligently across the six-yard box. For all the world, it looked as if Samuel Iling Junior would clear the danger.
But that was not accounting for the searing pace and the formidable desire of an onrushing James, somehow contorting his leg between the full-back and the goal as he nipped in to open the scoring just two minutes in.
Should the £25 million signing from Manchester United succeed in finding the net two more times in the remaining five Championship fixtures – Leeds host Preston North End on Saturday before facing Stoke, Bristol City, Oxford and Plymouth – the 2024/25 campaign will officially become the most prolific of his career.
Dan James and Daniel Farke help equal 62-year record at Leeds United
That, however, is not the fact Opta’s Jonny Cooper lead with on his official X account.
“Daniel James tonight, under Daniel Farke, became the third player in Leeds United’s history to score 25 goals for a manager they share the same first name with,” Cooper explains to the bemusement of a fanbase asking just how on earth he’d managed to figure that out.
Then again, there hasn’t been many Jesses, Uwes, Marcelos and Darkos to speak about in a white shirt.
“[James and Farke join] Frank Dudley – 27 goals under Frank Buckley – and Don Weston – 26 goals under Don Revie.”
Buckley, a man with about the most Yorkshire of all Wikipedia profile pictures, coached Leeds United shortly after the closure of World War Two.
The legendary Revie, meanwhile, signed namesake Weston from local rivals Rotherham in 1962. Stepping into the shoes of John Charles – no easy feat, of course – Weston would score a hat-trick on his Elland Road debut against Stoke City before fading from the first-team picture shortly afterwards.
James earns Michael Carrick praise after his Middlesbrough winner
Dan James though – the first Leeds player in 63 years to hit a quarter-century of goals under a coach with the same first name – still has a very big future ahead of him at a team who took one big step towards a return to the Premier League in the north east.
There is a ruthlessness to his game these days. Something a much younger man lacked during his days across the Pennines at Old Trafford.
Not that it will ease his frustrations a jot – overtaken by Coventry City in the final play-off berth – former Manchester United coach Michael Carrick is pleased to see Dan James make good on the potential he demonstrated all those years ago as a jet-heeled Welsh whippersnapper at Swansea City.
“He’s a great lad, Dan,” Carrick said. “He has developed himself into a massive player for Leeds. He makes a difference for them.”
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