Bristol City owner wants Leeds to lose points for spying

Bristol City owner Steve Lansdown wants a points deduction for Leeds after their head coach Marcelo Bielsa admitted to spying on other Sky  Bet Championship teams.

A member of Leeds’ staff was caught at Derby’s training ground last week watching them train ahead of their league game at Elland Road, which Bielsa’s side won 2-0.

The English Football League and Football Association are investigating the matter.

While Leeds do not appear to have actually broken any rules, Lansdown has called for the authorities to punish the West Yorkshire club, who are top of the Championship table by four points.

“The only thing that makes sense if I’m honest is a points deduction,” Lansdown told BBC Points West.

“They ought to seriously consider it but I don’t think that will happen as I don’t think the EFL will be strong enough to do something like that.

“A fine would go some way towards showing it’s not acceptable. Whatever happens we mustn’t condone it.

“If he’d asked to send someone to watch our training we would have said no. And every other football club would say no. So why does he think it’s acceptable to do it?

“However great a coach he is, it’s the wrong thing to do. Poking around and skulking around a training ground is not part of the game.”

Pochettino found it difficult to condemn friend and former manager Bielsa but insisted his actions had been “wrong” in a country where such behaviour is still frowned upon.

Klopp agreed training sessions immediately before a match should be off-limits to opposition scouts, but Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said the practice was commonplace in continental Europe and did not deny he had been involved in similar behaviour to his mentor Bielsa while coaching abroad.

The Argentinian called a hastily-arranged media briefing to present his analysis to journalists – but the act of spying on another team has split opinion.

“It’s a situation that makes me a little bit sad,” Pochettino said.

“Always my love is going to be with him. He was a person so important to me, to build my career as a player. After we’re talking about a situation that happened last week and I can’t agree (with it).

“For me, it’s wrong. I can understand (Derby manager) Frank Lampard’s feelings. It’s a thing that’s not easy to explain.

The first-team training pitch at the centre of Liverpool’s Melwood training base is fitted with a retractable curtain and Klopp explained the reasons behind it.

“What do you think the reason for the curtains is?! It’s not there in all sessions, because most of the sessions it is not a problem,” he said when asked about the row.

“But the last two sessions especially, we use the curtains because it’s not for anybody else. You change a lot of things, you train on the set-pieces, you use the players who are available for the weekend. These are in the information everyone wants to have.

“I understand Bielsa wants all the information, that’s what we all want, but on the other hand you have to accept that we don’t get that.

“That’s my opinion. You don’t want to have somebody around in these special sessions, and whatever you prepare over the years has no bearing on the last two sessions…especially the last one before a game, only a couple of people should see. I really think we all agree on that.”

Guardiola, meanwhile, skirted around the question as to whether he had employed similar tactics before moving to England.

“In other countries everybody does that,” he said.

“I don’t know. It is more difficult. (Training) is private. It is closed. But in all the countries I have been before, everybody does it.

“My respect (for Bielsa) remains the same. He was clear in his statement. I admired what he did in the past, why should I change my opinion?”

Crystal Palace’s former England boss Roy Hodgson called on the authorities to act – the Football Association and EFL have launched investigations.

He said: “Sneaking into other training grounds to see what teams are doing and get an advantage like that I do not understand at all, and I expect the governing bodies to do something about it.”