00:00Leeds United's return to the Premier League did not come as much of a surprise given how dominant they were alongside Burnley in the Championship last season.
00:08However, making that step up to the Premier League can be difficult for any team, even a team who achieved 100 points in England's second tier, as Leeds United did.
00:18Now, the gap is widening perhaps every season between the Premier League and the Championship, and in fact, for the last two consecutive years, all three promoted clubs have gone straight back down.
00:28So, Leeds United, of course, not only do they need to get their recruitment right in the transfer window this summer, which they've already started with, bringing in two new players already so far this summer,
00:40but also, when the season does start in mid-August, that first bunch of games they have to attack with everything they have.
00:47They have to get off to a good start because, of course, there are already doubts around Daniel Farker as their head coach.
00:53He has relegations on his CV with Norwich City in the Premier League before, although he is adamant that he wasn't backed enough and stood no real chance of keeping Norwich City up in the top flight.
01:04And he said that Leeds United will back him this summer, and Leeds United have promised to do that, and, of course, they've started doing that already.
01:09But will it be enough, and will Daniel Farker be good enough to keep Leeds in the top flight?
01:15Well, just how important is that start to him securing and keeping his job?
01:19Let's go now to Lee Sobert of the Yorkshire Evening Post. Lee, just how important is the start for Leeds, but also for Daniel Farker as a manager?
01:27Yeah, that's all totally fair enough, and the start's incredibly important, you know, absolutely, 100% it is.
01:33And I think Daniel Farker would almost go along with what you said there as well, because he'll know, you know, football is a results business, isn't it?
01:39And how important it is that having taken the club up, that they stay up, and obviously a good start to the season can be absolutely key to that.
01:47And the last thing you want is after, you know, sort of like half a dozen games or a dozen games to be sort of like, you know, in the bottom three or even at the bottom, you know, starting to get adrift or whatever.
01:56You want a good start, you want to start kicking on and not being in too much danger, and it is very, very important.
02:02And that's why that first game, Everton at home especially, you know, feels so, so important, because you look at the other two games that come after that.
02:09I mean, you know, you can't write anything off, and there will be upsets.
02:12Leeds at Arsenal is going to be an absolutely massive task from going down there to the Emirates.
02:15And yes, they'll be at home against Newcastle, but I mean, that'll be very, very difficult as well.
02:20So those first three games in particular, and like I say, that Everton one, it's like, you can't go as far as to say it's a must-win at that stage of the season.
02:28You haven't even kicked a ball yet, but it does make, there's no doubt about it, it does make it feel, you know, a lot more important.
02:32Because the thing is, then there's a break, you know, straight away after those three games.
02:36You've then got the international break, and you come out of it, and you've got Fulham away and Wolves away.
02:40They're two teams, so, you know, you wouldn't be too sure about where they're going to be this season.
02:43Wolves are a side who, you know, having lost Ait Nuri and also Mateus Kunja, two of the, probably the two best players, if you're being honest about it.
02:51They're a team that you could see potentially, like, getting embroiled in it.
02:54So that'll be, that's, you know, feels like a big game.
02:57Then you've got Bournemouth and Spurs at home.
02:59Two difficult games again, you know, Bournemouth, very good side.
03:02It's a difficult start.
03:03And, you know, obviously every game in the Premier League is going to be difficult.
03:06But it is, you know, very, very important that they get off to a good start.
03:09Because the owners will know, you know, they've come out and obviously backed Daniel Farker, which I'm pleased about.
03:13Because we said in one of these the other week, you know, that I felt they deserved the chance to, you know,
03:17to take him forward into the Premier League and see how he gets on.
03:20And obviously, you know, try and prove himself as a Premier League manager.
03:23People might look at it and say, well, you know, it was a bit of a disaster at Norwich.
03:27But, I mean, he wasn't backed at all at Norwich.
03:28And he said that before himself.
03:30And that's not him looking for excuses.
03:31That's just the truth.
03:32And I think he deserves a chance to be able to do it with Leeds, who will be backed by the 49ers.
03:36There's no doubt about that, because they won't want to mess about and get relegated and have to, you know,
03:41fight back from the Championship again.
03:42But equally, if it starts to go wrong early, then, you know, you can see them acting early.
03:46And I don't think that's any disrespect.
03:48I think that's just the truth.
03:49You know, I think everybody will probably go along with that.
03:51So it does feel like a good start is absolutely key.
03:53Yeah, because, you know, you need something to build from.
03:55But, as I say, it's, you know, there's the chance there to build something.
03:58Everton at home, Fulham away, Wolves away.
04:01They're the sort of games, obviously, they're away games that you'd look at and think, well, why not?
04:04And, obviously, you never know at Ellen Road.
04:05So even though Newcastle will obviously come to Ellen Road as favourites and Tottenham and, I don't know,
04:10maybe even Bournemouth, it depends how the start's gone.
04:12Leeds at Ellen Road with the crowd, you know, that's always going to be a massive factor.
04:15So there's enough in there, if you look at those first eight games,
04:18to think they should be able to get, you know, enough points to at least get them sort of, like, up and running, let's say,
04:23and hopefully a little bit of distance away from the bottom three.
04:26Because you've got to remember, there's obviously two other teams that have come up as well, you know.
04:29So, you know, obviously, you know, it's going to be very difficult as well for Burnley and also for Sunderland.
04:34And, obviously, look at Wolves potentially slipping into it.
04:37Brentford have obviously lost a very, very good manager.
04:39There's enough reason to be optimistic, but, yeah, keep on about it.
04:42It's very, very important to get a good start, no doubt about that.
