LEEDS OWNERS SHOW RUTHLESSNESS AMIDST DANIEL FARKE CRISIS
Pressure mounts on Leeds boss Daniel Farke as the club slips into the Premier League relegation zone. With just one win in seven games, the owners face a tough decision after showing a quick trigger with other clubs.
Leeds United's owners are feeling the heat to decide what to do with head coach Daniel Farke after the team slipped into the Premier League drop zone over the weekend. Leeds started the season okay, but one win in their last seven games has fans worried.
Their latest loss, a painful 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa, was made worse since Leeds took the lead with a goal from Lukas Nmecha. Morgan Rogers scored twice for Villa, and some boos from the home crowd at Elland Road made it obvious that Farke needs to turn things around fast.
Some fans want the Leeds owners to fire Farke, hoping a new manager could quickly improve things. That doesn't seem likely right now, but the ownership has been quick to make changes lately, most recently at another of their clubs, Rangers.
The Scottish Premiership team sold their majority shares in May, with the San Francisco 49ers group joining the ownership. After some recent struggles, they already swapped managers, with Russell Martin out and Danny Rohl in.
Now, even more changes are happening. The owners just sacked chief executive Patrick Stewart and sporting director Kevin Thelwell. Both joined the club within the last year, with Stewart arriving in December 2024 and Thelwell joining from Everton in the summer.
Rangers chairman Andrew Cavenagh said, Now we've been a part of Rangers for six months, we have got to know Patrick and Kev a bit more. What we need in a CEO and sporting director today is different from who we thought Patrick and Kev were. We want people who agree with our vision for the future.
Cavenagh added, Patrick and Kev are both good at what they do and have done a lot for the club. I'm not going to say bad things about them. I think they're great people. It's just that the club needs something different now than it did six months ago.
We've already started looking for replacements and hope to hire people soon, but we want the right people more than we want to do it quickly. Changes like this are never easy, especially when they involve people we like. But we're excited to bring in some new leadership to this great club.
This shows the Leeds owners aren't afraid to make tough decisions, and they might have to make similar choices at Elland Road. The team's recent form has been bad, and they now face criticism and a real chance of being relegated again.
While Farke is feeling the pressure, he says he's not thinking about his future and is only focused on getting points. After the loss to Aston Villa, he said, No, I am really not concerned about it. If you can’t handle the pressure, don’t manage Leeds United.”
The pressure is definitely on Farke, as Nottingham Forest and West Ham have each won two of their last three games, moving ahead of Leeds.
AWONIYI DOUBLE LEAVES NOTTINGHAM FOREST ON THE VERGE OF PREMIER LEAGUE SAFETY
Nottingham Forest moved closer to safety with a 3-1 win over Chelsea, while West Ham fell into the relegation zone after Spurs won.
_1777914166.webp)
Nottingham Forest came out of the weekend looking pretty safe after pulling off an impressive 3-1 win at Chelsea. They’re almost clear of the relegation mess. Tottenham’s big away win at Aston Villa shook things up too, and now West Ham are back in the bottom three, running out of time faster than ever.
Forest have stepped up just when they needed to, leaving West Ham and Tottenham behind with a string of solid performances. Honestly, no one saw this coming, especially since Vitor Pereira shuffled his lineup with eight changes, fresh off a Europa League win against Aston Villa.
Even so, Forest were ahead within 90 seconds, thanks to Taiwo Awoniyi’s quick strike. By the 15th minute, Igor Jesus calmly buried a penalty after Malo Gusto’s reckless foul in the box. Chelsea had a chance to get back in it, but Cole Palmer wasted a penalty right before the break after a scary head collision involving Jesse Derry.
Awoniyi doubled down and scored again early in the second half, pushing Forest six points ahead of West Ham with just three games left.
West Ham’s weekend started badly; they looked flat and lost to Brentford. Things got worse Sunday night when Tottenham pulled off their first back-to-back Premier League wins since August 2025, beating a heavily rotated Aston Villa side 2-1.
Forest is now out of West Ham’s reach, or almost. Tottenham’s still close enough for Nuno Espirito Santo’s team to worry, but with three tough games coming up, Spurs could stay up even without another win, unless West Ham digs deep and pulls off something unexpected before their home finale against Leeds.
Right now, Forest can practically taste safety. Spurs finally see a way out after weeks of struggle. As for West Ham, they’re left hoping for a miracle, a last-minute twist to dodge the drop.
CESC FABREGAS CONFIRMS INTEREST IN PREMIER LEAGUE RETURN AMID CHELSEA'S MANAGER SEARCH
As Chelsea searches for a new manager, Cesc Fabregas breaks his silence on his future at Como and his Premier League ambitions.
Cesc Fabregas recalls exactly how a conversation with Jose Mourinho prompted him to join Chelsea, despite having the opportunity to return to Arsenal.
After winning six trophies in just three seasons, the Spanish World Cup winner left Barcelona for the second time in 2014. That summer, Fabregas made a move back to the Premier League, signing with Chelsea for about €33 million.
He already knew English football well. Fabregas had arrived at Arsenal as a 16-year-old from Barcelona in 2003 and made 212 Premier League appearances for them. When he decided to leave Barcelona, Manchester City also wanted him, but Chelsea convinced him, mostly thanks to Mourinho.
Talking with talkSPORT’s Rory Jennings on YouTube, Fabregas laid out how it all happened. “Honestly, when I made up my mind to leave Barcelona, my first thought was just to go back to Arsenal. They had this buyback clause; they had two weeks to use it after I told them I was leaving. They knew about it but didn’t take it. That surprised me a little, but in the end, I had to think about my career. I was 27, at the peak of my career, and I wanted to continue performing and winning trophies. City and Chelsea were both options.
“But when Mourinho spoke to me, that was it. He showed me his plans for the team and told me about Diego Costa, Courtois, and Filipe Luis and how, with those guys, we’d win the league. He was right, by the way. We won both the Premier League and the Carling Cup.”
Fabregas wasted no time winning over Chelsea fans. On his debut at Burnley, he set up two goals, including a stunning assist for Andre Schurrle. He finished his first season at Chelsea with five goals and 24 assists, along with Premier League and League Cup medals.
Things dipped the next season. Fabregas got just 15 goal contributions, and Chelsea slipped all the way to tenth. But when Antonio Conte took charge in 2016-17, they bounced back, and Fabregas picked up another league title.
He added an FA Cup win in 2018, his second, after his earlier one with Arsenal, and left for Monaco a few months later. His last Chelsea match came in the FA Cup against Nottingham Forest. When he got subbed off, he couldn’t hold back tears.
Chelsea supporters still sing about him; that “Oh, Fabregas is magic...” chant sticks around. And with his name in the conversation for a possible return, maybe they haven’t seen the last of him yet.
Must Read
