Pundit says Leeds United should get points deduction after 'disgusting' Marcelo Bielsa spying Derby County controversy
Jermaine Jenas has accused Marcelo Bielsa of 'cheating' by sending a spy to watch Derby County's training session ahead of their game at Elland Road
Tom Marshall-Bailey
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Marcelo Bielsa was embroiled in a scandal on Friday when it emerged a man apprehended by police outside of the Derby County training centre on Thursday with binoculars and pliers was, in fact, an employee of Leeds United.
It was alleged he had been dispatched by Bielsa to study Frank Lampard's training session, with both Lampard and Derby furious to learn of the spy's presence ahead of their meeting with Leeds at Elland Road.
Bielsa admitted during a pre-match interview that he had dispatched the employee to study Derby's methods. The Argentine did not apologise for his behaviour, however, and it left BBC pundit Jenas shocked as he branded it 'cheating' and 'disgusting'.
Former Derby County striker admits he sees no benefit to Leeds United from controversial 'spying' incident
"I'm massively shocked by that," Jenas said on BBC 5 Live's The Friday Football Social.
"You know, no remorse whatsoever shown. Obviously, if he's done it to Derby and he's admitting that he's done it over the years he's probably done it every weekend this season which is cheating, isn't it? That's the bottom line, it's cheating.
"What I would say is that I'm not naive enough to think this hasn't happened with other people over the years, and there's been other ways of going about gaining information on whether it's starting XIs or set-pieces and so on and so forth.
"I'm not naive, but for him to have had an employee or someone he has put up to the job actually physically caught by the police and then stand in front of cameras and say you don't really care it's disgusting.
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"It's going to be interesting to see what the FA do with that. It's out of order. I don't see how it doesn't have any negative implications on the team."
He went onto add: "Everything you do before a game is what you take in the game. Whether it's team shape — you might work on something slightly different. Say Wolves are going to [Manchester] City this weekend and Conor [Coady] decides, actually I'm not going to play as a deeper lying sweeper role I'm going to play in front of the back four. All of a sudden you have that information as Pep Guardiola and you can use that information and that's probably one of the smallest elements to it. I think one of the biggest elements is set pieces."
"From listening to Mauricio's [Pochettino] comments it's obviously something that is common practice in Argentina and even if you're caught I'm guessing is not punished in any form of way.
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"Why somebody hasn't mentioned to him during the time he's been here that is not what is done — well not that it isn't done, because I think it has been done in the past — but the fact that it is not the right thing to do. It's strange."
"It's your game plan. You're going to war, that's football. You're crossing the line and you're giving away your game plan. Someone has come and spied and taken away your game plan, it's essentially cheating. If it's part of their culture and how they do things regards to sport then I'd rather it stay there.
"I described it as cheating earlier on and my mind hasn't changed. It is a big thing. Mauricio is looking at as very casually. It's not. I think that's from being a part of it, from being on his team, knowing that information and how they used it. That's now how we do it in the English league and you have to adapt to your surroundings.
Leeds United 2-0 Derby County - match in pictures
Although the EFL are said to be investigating the matter ahead of deciding whether to sanction Leeds, Jenas believes a point deduction is the right outcome.
"If they didn't get a points deduction I'd be surprised," he said. "How else do you lay down a marker for making it clear that this type of behaviour is not acceptable? Would a slap on the wrist be enough to make sure Bielsa doesn't do that? I'm more inclined to think they will lean towards that [a slap on the wrist] first. They'll say, 'Look this is the first time we've caught you'. Personally, I lean more towards the point situation because of the lack of remorse.
"I feel that the FA, I don't think they will do it. I think they'll look at Leeds' position in the league, how much they're challenging in the league position they're in, how much of a negative effect on that situation, and I don't think they'll do what is the right thing personally.
"It also makes you question his abilities to an extent. Any time any form of cheating comes into play whether it's - doping is probably a bit extreme - but any type advantage you're gaining by cheating, why not leave it down to the top team that you've got? You're obviously a good coach because of the way you get your team to go out there and actually perform. Why the extra bit? Because all of a sudden you start thinking are they where are on the basis that they've been sending people around training grounds?"
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