The less said about Stuart Pearce’s managerial career is probably for the better, he’s ended up as a pundit after all, but the former England left-back has reinvented the phrase ‘faux indignation’ when dealing with the topic of Leeds United and Spygate.
I’m trying to move on as the ridiculous overreactions from those looking to get their 15 minutes of fame are not only numerous, but they are also incredibly boring and leave me questioning their individual intelligence…
…especially as so many players and others in the game are now on record as saying that seeing if you can get a sneaky view of training ahead of a game is absolutely not new in this country and has gone on for years.
Pearce’s outburst got my attention though because it’s actually funny.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ The Debate programme, Pearce explained using the best logic he could muster.
“It’s not right and proper, from whatever country you come from. It will be interesting to see what the punishment will be from the FA. We’ve not seen anything as clear-cut as this before. If it was me, the team that it has affected the most is Derby, and I would reverse the scoreline. Let the punishment fit the crime. It fits this brilliantly. Do you think the EFL call him in, and say: ‘Don’t do that again’? Or I think the way I’ve approached it, the punishment directly fits the crime in this case.”
There has been no crime and everyone is waiting to see how the EFL will frame the vaguest ‘rule’ they have to apply to a bloke standing perfectly legitimately on a public road. Pearce actually knows this, as he leads with ‘right and proper’ but then he misses the key point.
Things can be wrong and improper without actually being a crime, so the only thing that actually ‘fits this brilliantly’ is the dunce cap I presume he owns.
"If it was me, the team that it has affected the most is @dcfcofficial, and I would reverse the scoreline." 🔄
The EFL should reverse the scoreline and award Derby a victory over Leeds after #SpyGate, says Stuart Pearce.
📲 https://t.co/mS6jr5N9Ax pic.twitter.com/WfJ6CjMXzA
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) January 16, 2019
You can dig deeper in his line of thought.
We’ve not seen anything as clear cut as this before – we have, players and coaches have admitted it in recent days and we’re not changing historical results.
Teams have fielded ineligible players previously and that is well dealt with by the rules – but have only usually received fines, although points deductions have occurred. But no scores have been reversed, points may have been removed, but that’s not quite the same thing.
We regularly see instances of cheating and trying to gain an advantage but scores aren’t changed as a response.
When does only some ‘crimes’ (that aren’t crimes as there’s no straight rule prohibiting that behaviour) need a punishment that fits, when crimes in football based on rules, go unpunished completely?
Pearce may want to revisit his thought process – especially as there are other massive flaws in it. Frank Lampard admitted Derby were poor on the day and that had nothing to do with binoculars. The Police released the Spy without charge as no crime had been committed. Pearce himself has apparently said Leeds gained no advantage through it, and later in the segment I’ve seen talk that he said ringing up a ‘friend’ on the opposition to try and get a hint of team selections was different.
The breadth of opinions on Spygate is staggering. Stuart Pearce hitting the front in the seethe race by calling for a reversal of Friday’s scoreline. Not sure Lampard could take that with a straight face given the pasting Leeds gave Derby.
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) January 16, 2019