Frank Lampard’s Coventry host Leeds United this evening, a club Lampard is all too familiar with.
Since Lampard’s arrival, he has invigorated Coventry and four straight wins has pushed them in sight of the play-offs.
Leeds United are currently at the top of the Championship and hope to extend their lead to five points with a win.
But this isn’t merely another Championship clash; it harks back to a rivalry with a bizarre backstory that cost one manager a heavy fine.
The ‘Spygate’ incident sent shockwaves through English football, involving Leeds United and Derby County, where Frank Lampard was manager at the time.
In January 2019, just days before Leeds were set to play Derby, a staff member from Leeds was caught acting suspiciously outside Derby’s training ground.
After this, Leeds’ then-manager, Marcelo Bielsa, openly admitted to sending a staff member to observe every opponent they faced that season during training.
This prompted Frank Lampard to remark on Leeds’ conduct leading up to their game as ‘unethical’.
“I’ve never heard of going to a training ground on your hands and knees with pliers trying to break into private land to watch,” he said.
Leeds subsequently beat Derby 2-0, with Lampard refusing to cite the ‘spygate’ saga as an excuse for his team’s performance.
The EFL determined that Leeds had breached rules regarding fair treatment of rival teams.
In response, Bielsa held an extraordinary news conference the week after the game, where he demonstrated to journalists the level of analysis that went into each opponent.
He said he ‘observed all the rivals we played against and watched the training sessions of all opponents’.
This confession ignited widespread criticism, despite the absence of a specific rule prohibiting teams from observing their rivals’ training.
This has since changed, with a new rule being enforced in June 2019 by the EFL, English Football League clubs are now banned from trying to watch their opponents’ training sessions 72 hours before a game.
Lampard did his best to act unaffected by the whole saga, but his displeasure was clear.
Leeds fans, of course, revelled in every moment—especially the two victories over Derby that came next.
It felt as though they were dancing around in Lampard’s head, especially after Leeds claimed a narrow 1-0 victory in the first leg of their Play-Off semi-final at Pride Park.
And there was only one song the away fans were singing throughout, to the familiar tune of an Oasis classic…
“All of the spies are hidden away.
“Just try not to worry; you’ll beat us someday.
“We beat you at home, we beat you away.
“Stop crying, Frank Lampard.”
Yet, much to Leeds’ disappointment, Lampard and Derby had the last laugh following a heart-stopping comeback against Leeds at Elland Road, a triumph that felt like so much more than mere progression to the Play-Off final.
The EFL imposed a £200,000 fine on Leeds after the incident, a penalty that Bielsa took it upon himself to handle.
“The sanction gave us £200,000—it is a financial sanction against the club, not against me, but I am responsible for it,” Bielsa said.
“That is why I paid it from my pocket—the financial sanction.”
Despite the Argentine’s admission of responsibility, Leeds fans remain undeterred, continuing to embrace the rivalry.
It may come as no surprise if fans are spotted mimicking the ‘binoculars gesture’ that Leeds United’s sporting director Victor Orta flaunted after their victory over Derby, over 12 months after the incident.
The clash kicks off tonight at 19:45 at Coventry Building Society Arena, with the 11th-placed side hoping to knock the Whites off their kilter.