Following Sunday’s final regular 2018/19 Championship clash between Ipswich Town and Leeds United, tempers were already high as we again utterly dominated the tie, yet fell to a 3-2 defeat as our already relegated hosts made more of far fewer chances on the day.
Meeting with the media for his usual post-game press conference, with it now known that our Play-Off Semi-Final opponents would be Frank Lampard’s Derby County it was only inevitable that ‘Spygate’ talk would again resurface but it seems what may have been an attempt at humour from one journalist, seriously misjudged the mood of the moment.
Bielsa has been asked if he will spy on Derby again, and is not taking it lightly. Very unhappy with the question. Also not happy to be told that he doesn't have a sense of humour. #lufc
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) May 5, 2019
Asked whether he planned on spying once again on Derby County as we go into the season extension, Hay quoted his furious response.
“You know that it’s a crime to Spy? Do you know that? When you have a level of ignorance and you work as a journalist, when you have the right to ask questions, when you’re lying in your answers, when you don’t assume the irony and you keep telling me that you don’t know if spying is a crime or not, you deserve a response without any content. You make your question knowing that observing an opponent is now sanctioned. You know this perfectly and that’s why you ask this question. Then you deny the fact that you know the answer and you know I received a sanction because of it. That’s why I don’t understand that question.”
Pushed that it was simply meant as a joke an that our Argentine gaffer had no sense of humour, Bielsa was even more cutting.
“Is it a joke? If it was a joke I didn’t understand it. It’s not that I don’t have a sense of humour. It’s that you’re not funny.”
The reaction from fans was predictably to the point and most of the comments I simply cannot repeat.
Bielsa – The FA Have Now Shown “The Only Way To Get Justice”