Daniel Farke celebrated Hollywood star Will Ferrell’s big investment in Leeds with a classic demonstration of Elf ’n’ safety.
Goalless scuffles with £200 million of promotion loot on the line are rarely the stuff of riveting entertainment, but a textbook shut-out on his old stamping ground at Norwich in the Championship play-off semi-final was music to Farke’s eyes and ears.
And with Ferrell, who played the title role in hit Christmas movie Elf, on the way to the boardroom at Elland Road, Leeds will be favourites to reach Wembley. But Farke isn’t shouting the odds yet. The city that gave us rock legends the Kaiser Chiefs has also given us football's Khasi Chiefs - because so many dreams have gone down the pan.
Leeds have never been promoted via the play-offs after losing two finals (against Watford and Doncaster), two semi-finals (against Millwall and Derby) and the inaugural high-wire joust with Charlton 37 years ago.
Farke, who twice led Norwich to the Championship title, was warmly applauded by both sets of fans after a barren first leg.
But he was narked when Junior Firpo’s ‘goal’ was disallowed after half an hour for a marginal offside call against Georginio Rutter and the Leeds boss scowled: “I expect myself to be spot-on with my decisions when there is so much at stake. If you want to be in charge of such a (big) game, you have to do the same if you are an official.
"I have 12 apologising letters at home already during the season with offside goals and penalties not given. If we would have used VAR during this season we wouldn't be in the play-offs - we would have been promoted automatically.
“I’m pretty annoyed - it definitely wasn’t offside. I feel like we should go with the rule that, when in doubt, you give the benefit to the attacking side. Everyone speaks about what these games are worth, so the decisions have to be right. Perhaps the whole stadium would be moaning if he gave it to the away side, but I have to make sure I’m not raging too much.
“Overall I’m happy with a draw and a clean sheet - obviously the last few games of the regular season were not great because we conceded way too many goals, but today we were rock-solid.”
In a febrile atmosphere at sold-out Letsby Avenue, the Canaries’ best chances fell to Josh Sargent, who headed wastefully wide, and Gabriel Sara, who shovelled his shot off-target although Dimitris Giannoulis appeared miles offside in the build-up.
Norwich boss David Wagner, who led Huddersfield to play-off glory in 2017 after penalty shoot-outs against both Sheffield Wednesday and Reading, said: “Both teams neutralised each other but I’m absolutely fine with what I’ve seen.
“All our cards are still on the table and there are no secrets between them and us. There doesn’t have to be an advantage to playing the second leg at home because the expectation is greater.”
Asked how much emphasis he will be placing on practising penalties ahead of the return leg at Elland Road, Wagner grinned: “Everyone knows that penalties played a big part for me in my previous experience of the play-offs.
“This is no secret, it’s a fact - now it’s up to us to make it count.”
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