Daniel Farke rages at Millwall player after Leeds United clash for beyond the pale behaviour
Daniel Farke is furious with Danny McMamara for going to the referee to report Junior Firpo after the the game with Leeds United, says Graham Smyth.
The Yorkshire Evening Post journalist told the Square Ball podcast (11 November) that the Whites boss is very upset with everyone involved after his left-back was retrospectively banned for three games over a clash with Millwall’s McNamara in the 1-0 defeat on 6 November.
An announcement emerged on the morning of Leeds’ subsequent game – the 2-0 win over QPR on 9 November – and Farke is annoyed that video evidence was used to re-referee an incident that was roundly ignored at the time despite there being no VAR in use in the Championship.
According to Smyth Farke is also upset by the lack of consistency after receiving a letter of apology from the FA last term over an incident with Rotherham’s Lee Peltier which left Willy Gnonto hurt, but no subsequent action was taken, yet he is most aggrieved with McMamara complaining to the officials after the fact.
Smyth said (5m): “[Farke] said the reason [the league’s] done this is because McNamara’s gone to the referee and reported a colleague for bad behaviour.
“And in his day, in his generation, they’d do all sorts to be competitive – what he means is ‘we’d kick seven shades out of each other’ – but at the end we shook hands and everything was okay.
“He says it’s beyond the pale to go to the referee and report it… Farke says there’s no injury so he’s very unhappy with Danny McMamara for going to the referee to report it, and that’s why it’s been investigated.
“Basically everyone in this situation has upset him.”
Danny McNamara infuriates Leeds United boss over Junior Firpo
It’s no surprise Farke is annoyed at the entire situation, including at Firpo himself for providing the opportunity for this to happen.
The left-back has developed into a key man for the German in the second tier so he could do without losing him for three games, even if Sam Byram has been a positive influence since his return to Elland Road two summers ago.
The supposed head butt which has been deemed violent conduct looked to be barely forceful enough to merit that description, but it is the sort of incident which players routinely take advantage of to embellish and get the perpetrator punished.
The difference here, and what has especially wound up Farke, is that McNamara seemingly failed in his original attempt during the match and went to the referee again after.
The Whites boss clearly views that as essentially grassing on Firpo, and in the circumstances it probably is, but such an avenue does need to be open to players if something genuinely serious has been missed at the time.
In this instance it was not serious at all and, given Millwall won the game, it hardly seemed necessary to go back and get a player banned.
Nobody involved comes out of the situation looking great, but the bottom line for Farke is he has two more matches to navigate without Firpo available, at Swansea (24 November) and at home to Luton (27 November), and he will have the entire international break to stew on it until then.
In other Leeds United news, the Whites have been tipped to snap up an in-demand attacking ace for nothing in a “good move”.
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