‘We’d love you’… Larry Nance Jr names the one manager he’d have over Daniel Farke at Leeds

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Leeds United are back in the Premier League thanks to the brilliant work of Daniel Farke and his players over the course of the 2024-25 season – but he’s still not Marcelo Bielsa.

That’s the belief of most Leeds supporters. Farke has got the job done, he’s done what was expected of him at Elland Road, taking The Whites back to the Premier League at the second time of asking.

But ask most Leeds fans who is the better manager based on their Elland Road stints and it would be Bielsa. This is a man that reconnected a disconnected fanbase with his style of play, his mannerisms.

His hugging of Patrick Bamford after a training ground goal, his press conference presentation after Spygate, his awarding Aston Villa of a goal, making Leeds fans pick up rubbish and his general aura.

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Larry Nance Jr would have Marcelo Bielsa back over Daniel Farke

Now manager of Uruguay, Bielsa is a fond memory after the three and a half years he spent at Leeds – ending a 16-year wait for Premier League football and guiding The Whites to ninth in the first year back.

Speaking to The Athletic, 49ers investor and now life-long Leeds fan Larry Nance Jr was asked about Bielsa. The NBA icon wasn’t around Leeds during Bielsa’s reign, but he would take him back if possible.

“I adore Marcelo Bielsa. A manager who got us promoted and then finished ninth in his next season? Please, please if you’ve got any years left we’d love you,” he said, despite Farke getting Leeds back up.

Marcelo Bielsa’s record in the Championship vs Daniel Farke

Those not of a Leeds persuasion simply look at the stats and think, why do Leeds fans adore Bielsa when Farke has produced the two years he has? The first side this century not to go up with 90 points, last term.

Bielsa’s Leeds only went up with a mere 93 points while Farke has clocked up a whopping 100 points this season, the most-ever in the club’s history in a single season. But Bielsa took a side from nowhere.

A Leeds side meandering in mid-table, to ninth in the Premier League. The rise of Leeds under Bielsa may not happen again, Bielsa himself won’t happen again, but Farke is doing his memory a brilliant service.