The EFL has introduced a new ‘Spygate rule’ following the controversial incident in Derby County’s training ground earlier this season when a Leeds United staff member was caught spying on their opponents.
The furore which followed caused great animosity between the two clubs, which extended through to their intense Championship play-off semi-final in May, as well as sparking a wider debate in football about the ethics of spying on rival teams.
There were no specific rules in place for what the then EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey described as an unexpected incident, although Leeds were fined £200,000 for failing to act in “utmost good faith”, as the regulations stipulate.
Frank Lampard criticised Leeds’ Argentinian manager Marcelo Bielsa, saying in the aftermath of the incident: “I don’t care if it’s cultural and it happens in another country”. Bielsa later gave an extraordinary press conference in which he revealed his detailed tactical planning for each Championship opponent.
The EFL has now moved to clarify the rules around spying on opponents with a new regulation, which reads: “No clubs shall directly or indirectly observe (or attempt to observe) another club’s training session in the period of 72 hours prior to any match scheduled to be played between those respective clubs.”
