“I might not be able to speak English but I can speak about the 24 teams of the Championship”. Those were the words echoed by Marcelo Bielsa as he delivered a 70 minute ‘masterclass’ presentation on his match analysis process, and you would be silly to doubt the words of a man well-known for his obsession of the game. 

That same obsession that famously led him to travel over 25,000 kilometres in his Fiat 147 in order to find new young players in Argentina when he was Newell’s Old Boy’s Academy Head Coach. That same desire for perfection that led him to quit his job as Lazio’s head coach two days after being announced as the manager after the board didn’t make any of the signings that he promised.   

Bielsa has been credited with some genuinely ‘crazy’ moments (look up Bielsa and grenade incident) some of which should be taken seriously and not be normalised as the behaviour of a man in pursuit of perfection. However, twenty years from now when we remember the Argentinian’s antics, ‘spygate’ would probably not even get a mention. Why? Because it’s not such a big deal.  

As a native South American, I’ve been quite surprised to see the reactions of many English pundits and coaches to the incident. I believe Bielsa must have had the same response.  

Coaches have been sending scouts to the opposition’s team practice everywhere in the world since forever (ask Jose Mourinho) and Bielsa himself has done so since the beginning of his career in 1990. The ‘Crazy One’ has coached in Argentina, Mexico, Spain and France, and has never received criticism for this aspect of his pre-game preparation until now.  

So many people are losing their minds over such a small thing that for those of us who were aware of this aspect of the game, it’s almost hilarious that this is even controversial. Sure, it falls on a grey area of sports ethics, but such a common practice shouldn’t be demonised like this, especially in an era where you can find everything you need to know from your opponent without leaving your house.  

Bielsa, on the other hand, surprised as he was, has admitted to scouting the opposition because he believes, as I do, that it’s a common practice and nothing to be ashamed about. The Argentinian apologised to Derby County as soon as the news broke out and has continued to answer journalist’s questions on the matter. He has nothing to hide as he hasn’t done anything wrong.  

Perhaps feeling that his meticulous preparation had been tainted by the ‘spygate’ incident, Bielsa delivered a 66-minute Power Point Presentation on his match preparation process and awed the world. His pursuit of perfection had been exposed. The man that analyses more than 30 games of the opposition, amounting to over 300 hours of work for each game, showed that he doesn’t need to spy in order to prepare for a game. But he is an obsessive man, who wants as much information as he can, regardless of whether it’s useful or not. He doesn’t believe in over-preparation but rather in under-preparation.  

This mammoth planning doesn’t necessarily win games on their own but it gives his team a better chance of achieving it and that’s one of the jobs of the manager. Following the ‘spygate’, Leeds delivered a stunning performance and defeated Derby 2-0. Bielsa’s boys ran them over and very few would doubt that the manager had no influence in that result.  

The most influential manager since Johan Cruyff now manages in England and although we should be prepared for some of his bizarre antics and over the top behaviour, this ‘spygate’ incident shouldn’t be regarded as an infraction of any sort. Because why would you punish one manager for a hundred-year old practice, especially when he has been so open about it?