When Leeds United sold £140m of playing talent last summer, Daniel Farke deviated from accepted managerial convention and declined to throw his toys out of the pram. Farke is a little too unconventional, a little too resistant to groupthink, to always do the expected and his club’s owner, the San Francisco-based 49er Enterprises, is set to reap the benefits.

The German’s unusual amalgam of high emotional intelligence and advanced numeracy have helped provide the framework for the freshly secured promotion to the Premier League Leeds so narrowly missed out on last May.

As the stars of that campaign – Crysencio Summerville, Archie Gray and Georginio Rutter – departed and Elland Road regulars despaire...
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