Good Morning. It's Thursday 11th September, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Leaked dossier hints at Farke departure A recently leaked 50-slide pitch deck has offered a fascinating glimpse into the new era at Leeds United under 49ers Enterprises. A copy of the dossier found its way to 'New York Times' journalist Matt Slater, who wasted no time in dissecting it, and reporting back to the Elland Road faithful in bitesize chunks! For anyone that hasn't seen it, I posted it in yesterday's Breakfast Debate. I think we all agree that the 49ers have laid deep foundations, and offer Leeds Utd stability, marketability and significant investment. While the headline-grabbing ambition is to elevate the club's value to a staggering £1 billion by 2030, a more revealing—and perhaps ominous—detail was buried within the slides. The dossier noted that the average Premier League manager’s tenure is a mere 18 months, confirming that “contingencies are in place for periodic new hires.” Seeing that Daniel Farke has already surpassed this time limit by eight months (albeit mostly in the Championship), could this the 49ers way of telling their investors that Farke is on borrowed time? It was widely speculated that he was to be replaced immediately after promotion, only for corporate opposition to block his forced exit. The language could also be interpreted as a convenient corporate excuse should the club be caught courting a potential successor in the future. Seeing that the 49ers didn't fully back him in the summer transfer window, the pressure is immense. Time will tell if Farke can keep Leeds out of the bottom three, but he now knows he is not just fighting for points, but against a pre-written corporate timeline. please log in to view this image James place under threat Dan James' place in the Leeds United starting lineup is under increasing scrutiny following a disappointing opening to the 2025/26 Premier League season. Despite being renowned for his electrifying pace, the 27-year-old Welsh international has failed to make an impact during the first three league fixtures. Over his 204 minutes of action, James has struggled to influence games, a fact reflected in a meager 'WhoScored' rating of just 6.07, which ranks him a lowly 15th among his Elland Road teammates. This underwhelming form stands in stark contrast to the official tracking data that confirms his status as one of the division's most blisteringly quick players. James has been clocked at a remarkable top speed of 36.14 km/h, placing him third in the entire Premier League's speed charts for the campaign, behind only Wolves' Jackson Tchatchoua and Manchester United's Bryan Mbeumo. While his raw pace remains an undeniable and fearsome weapon, players such as Gnonto and Okafor are pushing for opportunities. James must rapidly evolve from a mere speedster into a more consistent and effective attacking threat if he is to fend off the competition and secure his position in the side. please log in to view this image
49ers with a five year plan or wish list. They had six months to plan a vital transfer window and couldn’t manage it
James as a sub in the 2nd half. I’d start with Okafor and Aaronson on the wing next game. Maybe even Harrison as we’re away from home and then bring on James/Okafor in the second half.
No story on the Farke thing... if they broke down expected spend on every position it would be remiss to not have contingency for manager
Well let’s hope that they are planning on a manager/coach that plays a similar system for the type of players we have as Forest have just performed a complete handbrake turn on their coaches. Interested to see how that goes.
How can they have a contingency. It has to be someone unemployed so no way of knowing who’ll be available whenever time arises
Kev having being involved in the selling of a company to venture capitalists and also floating a business on the stock exchange. A huge document is put together, a big glossy affair that puts a positive spin on everything and also included within the financials alongside EBIT and EBITDA are all the contingencies for everything that could go wrong so will include everything on player sales, player valuations. You will also note the way they had a value escalator taking the clubs value to over £1 billion by 2030. When selling a business the value or price is based upon multiples of the anual profit before tax the average multiplier is 3.4 times but have seen businesses sold on multiples of 7 or even 12. That 49ers stuff sounds and feels exactly like an IM or information memorandum, or sales brochure to you and me. They will use it to entice new investors but to also have an exit strategy
English Championship considering promotion play-off expansion to six teams By Matt Slater Sept. 11, 2025 The English Football League (EFL) is considering a plan to add an eliminator round to the Championship play-offs, a move that would extend the number of teams in the play-offs to six. The proposal, which has received wide initial support from Championship clubs, is for a similar format to the one used by the National League, with the team that finishes fifth playing the eighth-place team and sixth meeting seventh in singles ties at the better-placed team’s home ground. But unlike the National League’s play-offs, which are all one-off matches, the winners of these eliminators would then proceed to two-legged ties against the teams that finished third and fourth, with the winners meeting at Wembley for a place in the Premier League. Preston North End chief executive Peter Ridsdale presented the idea to fellow Championship club executives at a meeting last week and it was very well received as it would reduce the number of dead-rubber matches at the end of the season, add two more high-profile games to the calendar and give more clubs a shot at promotion. Last season’s play-offs were contested by Sheffield United, Sunderland, Coventry City and Bristol City, with fourth-placed Sunderland beating third-placed Sheffield United in a thrilling final. It was a fitting conclusion to a season that had seen almost half of the division have a chance of reaching the play-offs until the final weeks of the campaign. The EFL would also like a similar expansion for the promotion play-offs in League One and League Two, the third and fourth divisions of English football. Each of those play-off systems currently have the same format as the Championship, with the four highest-ranked sides outside the automatic promotion places contesting two-legged play-offs ahead of a promotion final. However, a change in the Championship system is a priority due to ongoing talks to increase the number of clubs promoted from the fifth-tier National League from two to three, which would also see the number of teams relegated from League Two increase to three. However, the idea is not new, as former Crystal Palace and Bristol City chief executive Phil Alexander, who is now interim CEO of the National League, has proposed it several times in the past — initially in 2003 — without success. Under the Football Association’s Rule B, which deals with the “supervision of competitions and matches”, changes to competition formats require the approval of the FA Board. And whenever this idea has been discussed before, the Premier League has objected because of concerns about diluting the quality of its competition. The proposal has not yet been presented to the FA Board and there has been no formal vote at EFL level, either. But The Athletic has spoken to several Championship club bosses under the condition of anonymity and all of them backed the idea. End-of-season play-offs were first introduced to the EFL in 1987 and have been staged ever since. The first three editions ended with two-legged finals but that changed in 1990, with Wembley staging the Championship final ever since, apart from a seven-year residency in Cardiff while Wembley was being redeveloped. The first two seasons of play-offs were contested by three teams from the second tier and one from the top flight, and they were part of a two-year restructuring plan to reduce the old Division One from 22 to 20 teams. At the time, the football authorities said they would only continue with play-offs if they were popular with fans, which they were. In 1989, the play-offs were contested between the teams that finished between third and sixth in the old Division Two, a format that has remained unchanged ever since. But, if the EFL can persuade the Premier League to drop its opposition, that could change in time for next season, adding more excitement to the end of the Championship season. The EFL, FA and Premier League all declined to comment.
James is still as good as any of what we have. Bit harsh calling him out 3 games in. 1st one was was the 1st game. 2nd no players were in the game and 3rd a game where both sides cancelled each other out. I would have no problem starting DJ.
just a monetary contingency - they estimated spend without knowing who they were buying, and they estimate costs of a potential manager change. It's a superfical sales pitch to show you've thought of everything... and as Doc says whilst showing it all in its best light. You get people to sign nda's when you do this, so someone's been a naughty boy... but you know you when it's an investment pitch you can't keep a lid on it. Hence it promises a lot without giving any real secrets away
By Colin Millar Sept. 11, 2025 The Football Association (FA) has charged Chelsea with 74 alleged breaches of its regulations between 2009 and 2022. The charges centre on a period of time when the club was under the ownership of Roman Abramovich and “primarily relate to events that occurred between the 2010-11 to 2015-16 playing seasons”, the FA said. Abramovich was disqualified as a director of Chelsea by the Premier League in March 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the previous month. That came after the UK government froze the Russian billionaire’s assets due to his “close ties with the Kremlin”. In May of that year, Chelsea’s current ownership of the investor consortium BlueCo led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital bought the club. The alleged breaches are in relation to the governing body’s agent regulations, regulations on working with intermediaries, and third party investment in players regulations. An FA statement on Thursday read: “The Football Association has today charged Chelsea FC with breaches of Regulations J1 and C2 of the FA Football Agents Regulations, Regulations A2 and A3 of the FA Regulations on Working with Intermediaries, and Regulations A1 and B3 of the FA Third Party Investment in Player Regulations. “In total, 74 charges have been brought against Chelsea FC. “The conduct that is the subject of the charges range from 2009 to 2022 and primarily relates to events that occurred between the 2010-11 to 2015-16 playing seasons.” The club have until September 19 to respond with scope for that deadline to be extended given the extent of the charges. Chelsea insist the charges relate to the Abramovich era only. The FA refused to clarify when asked to do so by The Athletic. The club said on Thursday that they were “pleased” that the issue “self-reported by the club is now reaching a conclusion”. “During a thorough due diligence process prior to completion of the purchase, the (current) ownership group became aware of potentially incomplete financial reporting concerning historical transactions and other potential breaches of FA rules,” the statement continued. “Immediately upon the completion of the purchase, the club self-reported these matters to all relevant regulators, including The FA.” Chelsea said they had “demonstrated unprecedented transparency during this process, including by giving comprehensive access to the club’s files and historical data”. The club added: “We will continue working collaboratively with the FA to conclude this matter as swiftly as possible. We wish to place on record our gratitude to the FA for their engagement with the club on this complex case, the focus of which has been on matters that took place over a decade ago.”
After what Man City have got away with, its going to be very difficult to take serious action against anyone else. It could be why the punishment handed down on clubs like Everton, Forest and Leicester City have been so weak. Any more, they'd appeal on the grounds of what Man City get away with!!!!
Totally different Ell. Man City haven’t been charged with overspending. Most of the charges relate to inventing revenue streams/companies on behalf of their owner to bring income into the club.
Think the early concerns about him are that his pace alone is not good enough to make a premier league player.
Yeah it is a weird rhetoric really, feels like Dan is getting more flak than Gnoto but Gnoto also done Jack… Aaronson would be might pick on the right and Okafor or Harrison on the left. Got to reward the squad somehow and both Aaronson and Harrison have looked the pick of the bunch so far. Would also understand Farke picking Gnoto, James & Nmecha after a good result against Newcastle then possible changes for Wolves if we don’t see an improvement.
