It’s fair to say former Leeds United boss Neil Warnock is long enough in the tooth to know a ‘manager’s dream’ when he sees one.
And, if he was a few years younger – well, a decade younger at least – English football’s oh-so well-travelled septuagenarian would have relished the chance to work with one member of Daniel Farke’s current set-up.
Then again, so would everybody else in the Football League, and a fair few Premier League bosses to boot.
Dan James is the Championship’s most creative player, statistically speaking, but he is also an increasingly reliable source of goals.
And that is without mentioning the head-spinning cocktail of searing pace, relentless work rate, and an unselfish streak which makes Leeds United’s boyish number seven the darling of Elland Road.
Neil Warnock labels Leeds United star Dan James his favourite player
Warnock cannot help but wonder, meanwhile, how differently events would have played out had Dan James not started on the bench during last year’s play-off final defeat to Southampton.
After his belated introduction, James posed far more of a threat to the Saints backline than Championship Player of the Year Crysencio Summerville and £40 million export Georginio Rutter did in the previous 66 minutes.
He rattled the bar with a scorching strike from distance while finishing the match with a Terry Butcher-esque headband.
For an old-school ‘football man’ like Neil Warnock, the sight of Dan James sticking his head where it hurts only made him fall in that little bid deeper in love.
“When I watched [Summerville and Rutter] in the play-offs last year, I thought they were too individual, those lads,” Warnock recalls, speaking to talkSPORT “I remember Daniel James – he is my favourite player in the Championship, he has been for years – wasn’t playing that day.”
“I remember saying to him; ‘If I had one player I wish I could’ve managed, it would’ve been you’.
“I love his attitude, and I think it breeds [success in the camp] when you’ve got people like Daniel James.”
Warnock backs Leeds for promotion and hails Daniel Farke
Arguably in the form of his life right now, Dan James lit the fuse in Leeds’ 7-0 Cardiff City demolition job on Saturday. He provided two assists at breakneck speed within the opening minutes before hitting his eight goal of the season early in the second-half.
Leeds are now two points clear of Burnley. An advantage they can extend to five over Scott Parker’s Clarets with a win away at Coventry City on Wednesday night.
And Warnock is hoping to see a historic old club – plus his one-time Elland Road starlet Sam Byram – grace the Premier League again next season.
“One of my old players who i gave a debut to [in 2012], Sam Byram, he’s still there and he’s doing well,” the former Sheffield United, Middlesbrough and Queens Park Rangers boss smiles.
“I like Daniel [Farke]. I think he’s level-headed. It’s a big club that but I think they will do it [secure promotion] this time. They are a lot more sold at the back, which they haven’t been for a bit.
“It’s who will go up with them, I think.”
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