Marcelo Bielsa refuses to rule out using spying tactics again after Leeds down Frank Lampard’s Derby County
Leeds United 2-0 Derby County: Goals from Kemar Roofe and Jack Harrison helped Bielsa's side see off their promotion rivals
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Your support makes all the difference.Marcelo Bielsa has refused to rule out using the controversial spy tactics, which marred Leeds’ 2-0 win over Frank Lampard’s Derby County on Friday, in future.
Prior to yesterday’s clash,a Leeds employee was caught spying on Derby’s squad during a training session, causing it to be halted and the police called.
Bielsa took full responsibility for the incident prior to the match, in which goals from Kemar Roofe and Jack Harrison saw the league leaders take home a comfortable victory.
Afterwards, Bielsa said he would accept any sanctions from the FA, but stopped short of saying he wouldn't repeat the tactic again.
“I’m not trying to justify anything,” Bielsa said. “I’ve just explained why I feel I’m not a person who cheats and why I accept any reaction this behaviour creates.
“Things are as English football says. I have to respect the habits and traditions of this country.
“I would accept any sanction the club takes against me and any sanction the federation takes against me, and also the judgment of Derby County.
“This episode affects me. Of course the win is important. The only thing I’m going to apologise for is to have contaminated a football game with this subject.
“If I was a child, I would say I won’t do it again, but I wouldn’t feel right responding like this and would lose credibility.
“I won’t say that I won’t do it again. It’s a childish position to answer like that.”
The FA are investigating the incident and Derby boss Lampard encouraged the governing body to take firm action, claiming that he would never employ such a tactic and would rather quit coaching than doing so.
“It’s not for me to say what happens,” Lampard said. “I believe there’s not an absolute clear-cut rule about it.
“But we can’t open the door to this thing happening every week. What kind of farce would that be? Everyone sending undercover people, drones etc into training. It would be farcical.
“Something has to be done. I don’t know what it is, it’s not my decision.”
“Cheating is a big word,” he added. “If you talk about details and gaining advantages, great and good managers do that.
“But this one is over the line. It’s not just a toe over the line, it’s a hop, skip and a jump over the line.
“I’d rather not coach than send people undercover on their hands and knees with pliers and bolt cutters to go and look at the opposition because I respect the opposition.”
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