Spy and bovril
KILMARNOCK v FORFAR
STEVE CLARKE insists he’s thoroughly prepared for Forfar – but would never go to Marcelo Bielsa lengths to get information on his opponents.
The Leeds boss is at the centre of a spy storm after the sneaky South American admitted to sending a scout to watch every one of their rivals’ training sessions.
Derby gaffer Frank Lampard claimed Bielsa’s tactics amounted to cheating after his ploy was uncovered and Killie manager Clarke admitted the Argentine has overstepped the mark.
The former West Brom boss said: “It’s obviously analysing the opposition to the extreme. If it’s an open training session and you watch it, I don’t think there is anything wrong. If you are jumping fences and hiding in bushes then that’s a little bit extreme.
“Most top English clubs have private, enclosed training grounds. So if you have to break in to spy on the opposition that’s not correct because that’s breaking the law.
“We’ve had Forfar watched in matches but no spies at their training! We prepare for this match as we would for any other.
“We’ve had Forfar watched a couple of times and got good reports from good people. I know what we ’re going to face. There will be an even more increased level of desire from the Forfar players and we have to match that. BY GAVIN BERRY Hopefully we can show a little bit more quality and get through.”
Clarke left St Mirren three months before they lifted the Scottish Cup in 1987 but a decade later won the FA Cup with Chelsea. He said: “For a club like Kilmarnock cup success is tangible.
“We’ve shown over the past year we can compete with any team in the league on any given day. So if we have five really good performances it would be possible. But if you look too far ahead in football it tends to kick you where it hurts. So we concentrate only on this game.”