Leeds want to join Europe’s elite, chairman claims as thousands line the streets to celebrate club’s return to the Premier League

Over 150,000 Leeds fans gathered in Leeds city centre on Monday as Daniel Farke’s side took to the streets to celebrate their promotion to the Premier League with an open-top bus parade.

And Leeds chairman Paraag Marathe insisted that the Championship winners now want to become ‘one of the best clubs in all of Europe’.

‘I don’t think anyone realised, this wasn’t f***ing easy. This was really hard to do. Two years of getting to this point, but all that hard work and all that difficulty makes this much more rewarding and makes this so special,’ said Marathe, who confirmed on Sunday that Farke would remain as Leeds manager for next season.

Speaking from one of the three parading buses, Marathe added: ‘This is a journey and this is not the end. We have to keep going.

‘This is what Leeds does. We are going to have some difficulties, but we are going to get where we want to go and we are going to be one of the best clubs in all of Europe.’

The city centre streets were closed at 8am as thousands of supporters gathered hours before the players’ bus began its route down Wellington Street at 1pm towards City Square before going along the Headrow to the Town Hall.

The mile-long route took two hours as fans lined the streets, gathered on balconies, climbed on trees and bus stops and scaled lamp posts and traffic lights to get a better vantage point.

Leeds last won top-flight promotion under Marcelo Bielsa, who led them to the Championship title in 2020 but that came during the Covid pandemic, when the final nine games were played behind closed doors.

Success under Farke is the first time Leeds have celebrated promotion with their fans since 1990.