SpyGate - The results are in...

Marcelo Bielsa’s antics at Leeds United have sparked excitement and debate since his arrival at Elland Road, with the Whites chasing their rightful place in the Premier League. We are all familiar with the SpyGate saga, and the Leeds United ‘hit-list’ of pundits and figures who have clashed heads with the Leeds supporters, while many more took the side of Leeds and Bielsa. Since the incident, all sorts of rumors flew across social media, with pundits such as Keith Andrews (the usual) and Jermaine Jenas didn’t take to Bielsa’s method’s. Meanwhile David Seaman, Paul Gascoigne and Pep Guardiola to name a few, came to the side of the Argentine.

It was argued all along that Leeds had broken no ‘actual’ rules, this as met with the response of the ‘unspoken lines’ that a manager dare not cross. Sure, spying on the opposition is not great etiquette in the world of sport, the enquiry to this extent was understandable, but at the end of the day, it came down to the EFL to make a decision.

Photo by George Wood/Getty Images

The weighty £200,000 fine has been presented to and accepted by the club, with the reason being that regulations of treating fellow clubs with good faith not being respected. And while, again, we can understand the reasoning behind this, there are plenty of other examples of breaching this regulation - take the proposed move to Leeds for Daniel James on deadline day. Not only did Swansea City treat Leeds, the paying club who had bent over backwards to work the deal with them, with little respect; but the player, young James was not respected either. A young man looking to make a move and was seemingly not respected by the board nor his teammates, It’s difficult to see why the Swans could take the high road on this one.

Though respect must be given to the fellow Yorkshire teams who took no interest in SpyGate, and instead dismissed the outrage expressed in the media. Even Chris Wilder, a promotion rivalling manager, refused to give the SpyGate vendors a sniff and instead respected his fellow manager. Hats off to that.

Now, Leeds United and Marcelo Bielsa can march on with the rest of the season, every game is a final. Come on Leeds!