It’s cheating and I would be embarrassed

IF THIS was my manager spying on our opponents’ training sessions, I would be embarrassed. As much as you want to win, you want to do so as fairly as possible. I won’t pretend that I was the best-behaved player on the pitch. But when I did overstep the mark during a game, it was a reaction in the heat of battle. What Marcelo Bielsa has been doing at Leeds is premeditated. He may say otherwise, but watching your opponents train gives you an unfair advantage. Every manager wants to know the starting XI they are going to face. That information can allow you to tweak tactics or make a last-minute change of personnel. Teams may hold open training sessions from time to time, but in the main they are behind closed doors. It is not as if training grounds are in public places. There are often measures in place to ensure privacy. Arsenal used to train next to a public footpath. When the training ground was redeveloped, a row of trees was planted to block the view from the path to the pitch. Whenever we played away from home in the Champions League, we declined the chance to train in the stadium the day before the match. The thinking was that any advantage we might gain from acclimatising to our surroundings would be negated by our opponents learning our final preparations. There may be no clear- cut rule against espionage but what Leeds have done this season breaches the sport’s moral code. It is not in the spirit of the game. Bielsa wants to leave no stone unturned before every match to ensure that no opponent can spring a surprise on his team. But for supporters, it is that same element of surprise that makes the game so exciting to watch. Just because Bielsa is being honest now does not make up for the fact that spying on your opponents is cheating. Hopefully this is the last press conference he has to give on this topic.