The spygate scandal of the 2019/20 campaign was arguably one of the funnier moments at Leeds under Marcelo Bielsa.
Although it landed Leeds a £200,000 fine which the Argentine paid out of his own pocket, you cannot help but laugh at the fact he sent a member of his staff – who police claimed was equipped with pliers and binoculars upon being found – to spy on opponents.
Kemar Roofe has now shared how the Leeds squad reacted after hearing what Marcelo Bielsa had been up to.
Leeds United players were stunned by the information Marcelo Bielsa obtained
The 32-year-old has now spoken to the Sacked in the Morning podcast about how the players felt after details of this scandal emerged to the public.
Roofe – who was left “confused” by the first meeting under Bielsa – said: “We never experienced this before. Something like that didn’t even come into our heads – about someone’s actually going to spy on other teams – because it’s never happened before.
“So we just didn’t even expect it, but when it all came out in the end, we were like, oh it makes sense now, because he knew everything. He knew if a player wasn’t going to play… he knew the shape.
“We honestly didn’t understand how. We knew he was smart… so we just put it down to, he knows all of his details, he’s watched loads of games, but we didn’t really know that was the reason why.”
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In fairness to Bielsa, he needed to have a vast knowledge of the opposition anyway in order to know whether any changes had taken place during these spying sessions, and we feel his meticulousness deserves praise.
The 70-year-old went above and beyond to give Leeds the best possible chance of success, and it ultimately paid off as he secured the Championship title in 2020.
What Marcelo Bielsa said after spygate scandal details emerged to the public
Bielsa – who just lost to Brenden Aaronson – famously called a press conference to explain himself after being found guilty of spying, memorably doubling down by admitting he spies on everybody, not just Derby.
Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images
The South American said: “I observed all the rivals we played against and watched the training sessions of all opponents. So why did I send someone to watch them? Just because I thought I wasn’t violating the norm.
“All the information I need to clarify (my tactics) I gather without watching the training session of the opponent … but we feel guilty if we don’t work enough. Watching it allows us to have less anxiety and, in my case, I am stupid enough to allow this kind of behaviour.”
If there was ever a singular moment which epitomised the meticulous nature of Bielsa, it was spygate.