New boss Daniel Farke demands key Leeds United change as he serves Championship reminder

The 46-game slog is something a number of his new players are well used to. Liam Cooper, Luke Ayling, Stuart Dallas and Patrick Bamford were stalwarts of the Whites team who clinched the Championship title, having come close in the play-offs a year previous, so there is ample second tier experience in the dressing room.

Other, more recent additions to the squad, like Max Wober, Georginio Rutter and Willy Gnonto, have tasted only the English top flight with its 38 league fixtures. To prepare a squad that is set to undergo significant change prior to the close of the transfer window, Farke will be putting the players through an intensive pre-season. At Norwich his pre-season would include a lot of sessions, including detailed tactical work, putting the players through a mentally and physically draining time.

"It's my deep believing that we are all professional football players and professionals in this business and for that you have to work hard," he said prior to his official unveiling as Leeds boss on Tuesday.

"You need a top class fitness, especially in the toughest league in the world. The Premier League is the best league in the world, but the Championship as you all know is probably the toughest league in the world. You need to have an unbelievable fitness level and we have to work on it, especially during pre-season. It's a short pre-season but all over the year we will work quite hard."

Besides the fitness levels required to play the German's intense brand of high-pressing, attacking football, players will quickly need to grasp the tactical details. He wants to dominate possession, which is a change from the football played under Jesse Marsch. It won’t look much like Sam Allardyce’s philosophy, either. Farke has arrived a month prior to the first game against Cardiff City, so time is not particularly on their side. That doesn't preclude fun, he insists, although try telling that to players as they are given the annual Thorp Arch beasting and running track treatment.

"It's not just about hard work, it's also about enjoying what you're doing and, and to create obviously a special philosophy," he said.

"I don't like to speak too much about it. It's for me more important that you see it on the pitch and it will be one topic also [with which we need] to be pretty, pretty quick in order to reach the heads and the hearts of the players to build a unity, to build a group and this is what we from now on will work on and then hopefully, we'll do ourselves proud."

The Championship's difficulty level is not based solely on the intense schedule, the Saturday-Tuesday rhythm of so many weeks during the season. As Leeds fans can attest, it is a wildly unpredictable and competitive division. Last season just seven points separated sixth-placed Sunderland and Norwich City down in 13th.

Farke, who appears keen to point out that he's an expert in this division, told the Leeds board how many goals it would take to earn promotion. Winning lots of games is the only way to escape. Doing that, having grown sadly accustomed to losing, requires a mental shift. Leeds have lost 39 of their last 76 league games and won only 16. A winning habit must be rediscovered and Farke is out to prove he knows how.

"Obviously I know the Championship inside out," said Farke.

"I've spent nearly five years in English football, last year on the Bundesliga level, but I know exactly what is necessary to be successful [in the Championship]. I think I can judge it - the Premier League is the best league in the world and I would even say that it's by far the best league in the world. But the Championship is by far the toughest league.

"Nearly each and every team wants to be there and fight for the promotion ranks, for the playoff ranks. And so many games, you have to deliver every three days, two cup competitions in addition, so it's a marathon. Especially after relegation it's also good to have this experience with Norwich of what happens after relegation because in this difficult year you get used to losing football games and you have to change his attitude.

"Winning has to become a habit more or less again. To create this attitude and this atmosphere will be quite important after pretty challenging times in the recent months and let's be honest, the last two years were not that easy.

"We have to change mentality a little bit so that winning becomes a habit. The experiences of English football and especially at Championship level will hopefully help me to create this atmosphere again."