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English Premier League
SportFootball
Opinion
Nicolas Atkin

Marcelo Bielsa and Leeds ‘spying’ on Derby is being blown out of proportion – spare us the sanctimony

  • Leeds manager ‘accepts responsibility’ for sending employee to covertly watch Derby training session
  • Vitriol coming from Frank Lampard and English media is hypocritical, though

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Marcelo Bielsa fronts up to Sky Sports before the Derby match. Photo: Sky Sports
Nico is a production editor on the South China Morning Post’s sport desk, where he covers mixed martial arts (MMA) in Asia, as well as local sport in Hong Kong.

Marcelo Bielsa may have been caught “spying” on Derby ahead of Friday night’s big Championship clash, but please spare us the sanctimonious preaching.

Derbyshire police were forced to intervene on Thursday when a Leeds employee sent by Bielsa was caught outside Derby’s training ground watching a training session

Bielsa fronted up on camera to Sky Sports before the match and said he “accepts full responsibility”, and spoke to Rams boss Frank Lampard over the phone, but that hasn’t stopped the English football media from piling in.

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The Leeds manager “showed a complete lack of class” said the Daily Telegraph’s Henry Winter, who called on the English FA to act.

But as former Manchester United and England star Gary Neville weighed in on Twitter in response to Winter, the media outcry is a bit hypocritical.

“Surely sending spies daily to climb fences/hide in bathrooms with windows overlooking the training pitch to watch England sessions and disclosing your own country’s team and tactics would be worse,” Neville wrote.

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