Insight into Daniel Farke's Sheffield United ban as Leeds United's promotion rivals suffer same fate
One of Leeds United’s Championship promotion rivals will also be without their manager on the touchline this weekend.
Scott Parker has provided an insight into the challenges a touchline ban can throw up as he and Leeds United boss Daniel Farke prepare to watch their respective weekend games from the stands.
Farke was handed a one-game touchline ban after picking up his third yellow card of the season during Monday’s dramatic 2-1 comeback win over Sunderland. Replays suggest the Leeds manager was booked by Stuart Attwell for encroaching on the pitch as he celebrated Pascal Struijk’s 95th-minute winner - a decision that has caused widespread frustration.
Parker also picked up booking number three during his side’s 0-0 draw at Preston North End on Saturday, following appeals for what he believed was a clear penalty on winger Marcus Edwards. The Clarets boss will now be forced to sit in the stands when his side host Sheffield Wednesday on Friday evening but as with Farke, the punishment is not expected to cause major issues.
“It probably changes a couple of little things, but nothing too drastic, really,” Parker told the Burnley Express of his touchline ban. “Of course, I can still prepare the team. I can be in the changing room before the game, at half-time and obviously at the final whistle.
“I suppose the only difference is I'm not physically there on the touchline, but we live in a world now where communications, and obviously that facility to be able to speak to the bench, communicate and obviously get a message across, is there for us. So it’s not ideal, of course not, but in the modern day now, our yellow cards are getting pushed about. It’s something that every manager seems to face at some point in the season.”
Parker and Farke will both be able to speak with their squad before kick-off and at half-time, while discussions with the appointed referee can take place after full-time, albeit only inside the officials changing room. The Leeds boss will be watching on from the stands inside Bramall Lane with a direct line of communication open to the main man in the dugout, which is expected to be assistant coach Eddie Riemer.
Farke will likely provide his own thoughts on the punishment when he sits in front of the media for his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon. But the Whites boss was far from happy with the prospect of being further away from the action on Monday, particularly with so much on the line.
"I have to check [if I'm suspended] if I'm honest," he said in the immediate aftermath of Monday’s victory. "Since 17 years as a manager in professional football I had one yellow card, I was never sent off. I had two pretty doubtful yellows during this season. If I really miss this game at Bramall Lane due to goal celebrations I have to adapt to the rules. If the yellow was really for me and it was right to give me a yellow in this situation I will accept the rules. I would doubt if it's fair and in the sense of the game."