There will be a mixture of excitement and trepidation for Leeds supporters when they descend on Wembley for their FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea on Sunday, returning to a venue that evokes plenty of painful memories, but that could now provide the springboard to a brighter future.
Leeds have lost on their past three visits; you have to go back to the days of Gordon Strachan, Gary McAllister and Eric Cantona for their last win there when, as champions of England, they defeated Liverpool in the 1992 Charity Shield.
Wembley has primarily been associated with heartbreak, and few moments illustrate that better than their most recent trip; a 1-0 defeat by Southampton in the 2024 Championship playoff final. That, however, proved to be a crucial moment for Leeds, who could have easily moved on from Daniel Farke after he failed to secure promotion.
The decision to hold their nerve was inspired. Farke delivered the Championship title the following season with 100 points and this season Leeds already have 40 points in the Premier League and are practically safe. They head to Wembley in buoyant mood and with FA Cup glory in their sights.
“In sport you can’t just take the days when the sun is shining,” Farke said when asked about Leeds’s journey to this point. “You have to take the difficult days. Normally 90 points is automatic promotion, in other seasons it would be enough, and it was heartbreaking to experience this day [the 2024 playoff final] and what it means to the club. But the day after we started to work again.”
The showdown with Chelsea is Leeds’s first FA Cup semi-final since 1987, as well as a seminal moment for Farke, who would become the second manager in the club’s history to take them to an FA Cup final. The other? Don Revie, against Chelsea, in 1970, which was followed by visits in 1972 and 1973. But this is perhaps a more seismic occasion for Leeds as a whole, with victory likely to accelerate plans to return this grand old club to the upper echelons of English football.
Farke conducted his press duties this week at Leeds’s Thorp Arch training ground. “I was shocked when I walked in,” he said. “Thorp Arch is one of our cornerstones as a club, we have to develop young players and that is crucial for us.
“We need a top-class training ground and, with all respect, it was League One level. I couldn’t understand how every penny went into salaries. It was important that at least a little part goes into something that you can’t see straight away on the table, but is important for the medium and long-term. I need to win the next game but I want to build something. Perhaps I am not there in five or 10 years, but this is what I want to do.”
Elland Road is will be expanded in the coming years, but for all of the exciting projects happening off the pitch to drag Leeds into the modern era it is what is happening on it that really matters. Victory over a Chelsea side reeling from the sacking of Liam Rosenior would not only establish Farke and his players as Leeds legends, and return them to Europe for the first time since the early 2000s, it would also allow the manager to move one step closer to executing his personal vision for the club.
“It is important that when it is time to leave, I want the club to be in a way better position,” Farke said. “So far it has worked for all of my clubs. We have a clear plan on what we want to do and how to achieve it.”
