Leeds United

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Marcelo Bielsa: Leeds have observed every rival this season

| 16 January 2019

Marcelo Bielsa: Leeds have observed every rival this season

The Argentinian was adamant he has done nothing illegal.

Head coach Marcelo Bielsa has admitted Leeds have "observed all the rivals" they have played this season.

The Argentinian said on Friday that he was responsible for sending a member of club staff to watch Derby training and the Football Association and the English Football League have launched investigations into the accusations of 'spying'.

Leeds apologised to Derby and reminded Bielsa of his responsibilities after Friday night's 2-0 win over promotion rivals County at Elland Road was overshadowed by the incident.

And on Wednesday Bielsa called a press conference at Leeds' training ground to discuss the matter in more detail.

Looks like media going to be given screen show by #lufc boss Marcelo Bielsa – insight into the spying incident pic.twitter.com/pcag0f1sjc

— Mark Walker (@markdw1966) January 16, 2019

He said: "I'm going to make it easier for EFL investigation. I'm going to make it easier for them and I assume my behaviour is observed from the most extreme position.

"I observed all the rivals we played against. We watched all the training sessions before we played them.

"My goal is to make this easier for the investigation. By doing this I assume the possible sanctions by the authorities. I don't want to compare my situation with previous similar incidents."

Bielsa was adamant what he has done is not illegal.

Bielsa says his staff watched all of Derby's 51 games last season before last Friday's win. Each game takes four hours to analyse #lufc pic.twitter.com/kbcuWdDnGI

— Mark Walker (@markdw1966) January 16, 2019

"I don't want to make it easier for me by attacking others," he added. "Regarding what I've done – it is not illegal. It's not specified, described or restrained.

"It's not seen as a good thing, but it is not a violation of the law. Although not illegal it's not necessarily the right thing to do.

"The wrong things you do are not done with bad intention or an intention to cheat. If you observe something without authorisation we call it spying. I'm going to try and explain I did not have bad intentions.

"I did not try to get an unfair sporting advantage. But I did it because it was not illegal or violating specific laws."

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