Frank Lampard admits Derby have boosted their training-ground security in the wake of their ‘Spy-gate’ bust-up with Championship play-offs opponents Leeds.
The two sides meet for the third time this season at Pride Park on Saturday evening in their semi-final's first leg, before the return at Elland Road four days later that will decide who faces Aston Villa or West Brom at Wembley at the end of the month for a place in the Premier League.
First-year boss Lampard was fuming in January after opposite number Marcelo Bielsa admitted sending a member of staff to secretly watch their promotion-race rival Rams train before hosting them. Leeds won the ensuing match 2-0 and were later fined £200,000 after coach Bielsa apologised for the stunt.
Derby reacted by beefing up security at their HQ to cover up its perimeter fence, which onlookers could previously see through.
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And Lampard says it wasn’t necessary for his squad to train indoors, away from prying eyes, this week as they have taken further extra security measures.
He said: “We haven’t trained indoors, we haven’t done that. I don’t expect anyone to be watching our training. We try to take some measures for that. We did do a few bits but I never went around and said, ‘I want to check the perimeter and build a big wall.’
“We are a club who have had to make lots of cut-backs this year in different ways. The idea of building a huge perimeter wall and hiring a lot more staff to walk around is not possible.”
Leeds have done the double over Derby this term, winning 4-1 back in August in what was Chelsea and England legend Lampard’s first competitive home game as a manager.
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His Rams ended the regular season in good form with just one defeat in 12 games and booked their play-offs spot with a home victory over potential Wembley opponents West Brom on the final day.
Lampard is stressing to his squad that the previous row with Leeds must now be forgotten.
He insisted: “We can’t get involved in that at all. Our run-in has pushed us into sixth place. But we mustn’t forget they have beaten us twice and finished points above us in the league. They are a strong team and at one point looked certainties to be promoted, but the competition is great and they have dropped out of that.
“If we have any chance to get to Wembley, we are going to have two really tough games. We have to be at our best to compete and try to win this game.”
