Leeds United beat Derby County fair and square at Elland Road, Marcelo Bielsa’s steeds handing out a footballing lesson to Frank Lampard’s men.
However, events beforehand were anything but straightforward with a dénouement beginning that eventually unfurled the whole ‘Spygate’ saga.
All this came about after a Leeds United employee was caught loitering in the bushes outside Derby County’s training ground. That is ‘outside’ and stood on a ‘public road’ armed with only a pair of secateurs.
That pair of twig trimmers was suddenly conflated up to the level of pliers and bolt cutters by the likes of Derby County manager Frank Lampard. Cue fan outrage and calls for Leeds United to suffer points deductions and all manner of other punishments.
The result, after some deliberation, was that Leeds United would pay a £200,000 fine for their breaching of a ‘good faith’ agreement that breached the EFL’s regulation 3.4.
However, in his programme notes today (below), Whites CEO Angus Kinnear has laid out some pretty strong words for the likes of Frank Lampard and Norwich City, both who were at the forefront of accusations hurled towards Leeds.
Chief Executive Angus Kinnear’s notes are well@worth a read. #lufc pic.twitter.com/7LKVbIw8y3
— Adam Pope (@apopey) February 23, 2019
In those notes, Kinnear has hit out ‘clubs’ that he doesn’t name, but Leeds United fans could do so with ease. In words carried by Phil Hay of the Yorkshire Evening Post, Kinnear says:
“The fact that other clubs chose to publicly make and leak more serious and completely false allegations was ironic when our ultimate charge fell under ‘treating member clubs with the utmost good faith’. The EFL pro-actively asked us whether we wanted to make formal complaints but we decided it was better to be the bigger person, despite clear breaches of the ‘utmost good faith’ standard.” Angus Kinnear – Leeds United CEO
The sentiment behind them is clear, Leeds United are not happy at the way other clubs acted/reacted, clubs that then placed themselves in breach of the very regulation that the Whites fell foul of.
Whilst the club have chosen not to press for a reaction as such, these notes being the only response, Whites fans themselves are not often known for their reticence in such matters.
Leeds United fans comment and react after Kinnear notes
He’s said the right things here we have come out of this classier whereas the EFL have further shown how dire their whole establishment is 👎
— andrew ackroyd (@andrewackroyd1) February 23, 2019
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EFL asked us if we wish to complain about the lies from likes of derby Bristol city and Norwich and we should of just to highlight what kind of men are running these clubs
— bielsa’s lucky blue bucket 💙💛💙💛 (@delwright21) February 23, 2019
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All in ? A Battyesque tackle on the EFL. What a star !
— Phil Bradley (@bradley_philip) February 23, 2019
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Wow Adam what a fabulous reply from Angus with cutting sarcasm but still pretty restrained unlike many of his oppos at other clubs!! Shame that the EFL didn’t take it upon themselves to take out “good faith “ actions against those clubs making up a pack of lies!! #lufc
— Chris Wheeler (@ChrisHWheeler) February 23, 2019
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Wow this is dynamite and shows how we could have gone for Norwich, Derby, Reading and Bristol right from the off…
— Doc (@333doc1) February 23, 2019
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Really glad he’s spoken out in defence of Marcelo there, too. That was lacking in our other responses.
— CK (@ephemeraljoy) February 23, 2019
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We should have made a formal complaint about Derby’s lies to the media. If only to see how the efl handled it.
— Dan (@POTUS048) February 23, 2019
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I wish they had pursued reg 3.4 against Derby and Norwich – more than anything to objectively be able to see the @EFL’s bias when they were found innocent.
— Mob(Cap)Mentality (@M_C_Mentality) February 23, 2019
