The English Football League confirmed it will "formally investigate" Marcelo Bielsa and League Championship side Leeds United for "sending an employee of the club to spy" on a Derby County training session last week, according to Tom Kershaw of the London INDEPENDENT. Police were called to Derby’s training ground after a person was "seen acting suspiciously" outside the training ground, which forced Frank Lampard‘s session with the squad "to be halted." Before the match, which Leeds won 2-0, Bielsa admitted that the person spying "had indeed been sent there on his orders" and took full responsibility for the incident, "but refused to rule out using such tactics again in future." After the game, Lampard claimed he would "rather quit coaching than employ such tactics himself, and urged the EFL to act on the incident" (INDEPENDENT, 1/14). The PA reported Derbyshire Police "were forced to intervene and move the individual on but he was not arrested." Leeds has since apologized to Derby. The FA "has begun its own probe" and the EFL followed suit. The EFL said in a statement, "The EFL has now determined that it is appropriate to consider this matter in the context of a number of EFL regulations whilst also noting that the alleged actions appear to contravene the Club’s Charter that all EFL clubs agreed to in summer 2018" (PA, 1/15).
