Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa suggests he paid £200k 'spygate' fine himself
Bielsa also suggested that he will pay any further sanctions against the Championship club while manager
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Your support makes all the difference.Marcelo Bielsa has appeared to suggest that he personally paid the £200,000 fine received by Leeds United for the ‘spygate’ affair earlier this season.
Bielsa also suggested that he will pay any further sanctions against the Championship club while manager, as he believes it to be his responsibility.
Leeds were this week charged by the Football Association with failing to control their players after the chaotic end to Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Aston Villa.
The promotion-chasing Championship club can expect a financial sanction to follow, just over two months on from a fine from the EFL for spying on a Derby County training session.
Ahead of the final game of Leeds’ regular season against Ipswich Town, Bielsa revealed at his pre-match press conference that he paid the fine ‘from his pocket’.
After answering a question about Kemar Roofe’s fitness and while speaking through an interpreter, Bielsa said: “As we’re clarifying things, I think it’s important to add two things not related to this subject.
“The sanction I received, that the federation gave us – £200,000 – it is a financial sanction that the club received.
“It’s a sanction against the club, not me, but I’m responsible for it. That’s why I paid from my pocket the financial sanction.”
Bielsa also denied that he was certain to leave Elland Road if Leeds fail in their bid to be promoted through the play-offs.
“I never said this and I never said the opposite either, what I’m going to talk about. I’ve never said that if we don’t get promoted I won’t carry on my work here.
“I haven’t said I was going to leave, I haven’t said I was going to stay. I just said that it was not the moment to talk about the subject.
“I just said it’s about receiving the proposal and then accepting the proposal or not. I never said and would never say that if we stay in the Championship, I won’t stay here.
“Otherwise, you would say the importance of this team or club is linked to the division in which it plays.
“For me, this team and this club is important if they play in the Premier League, Championship or League One.”
The chaotic end to Sunday’s draw was sparked by Mateusz Klich playing on and scoring while Villa’s Albert Adomah was down injured.
Bielsa ordered his players to allow 10-man Villa to equalise, shortly after Anwar El Ghazi’s sending off for violent conduct against striker Patrick Bamford.
El Ghazi’s red card has since been rescinded and Bamford has received a two-game ban for simulation.
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