Frank Lampard delivers further insight into Derby, Leeds & ‘Spygate’ | OneFootball

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Football League World

·3 December 2021

Frank Lampard delivers further insight into Derby, Leeds & ‘Spygate’

Article image:Frank Lampard delivers further insight into Derby, Leeds & ‘Spygate’

Speaking on Gary Neville’s ‘The Overlap‘ on YouTube, former Derby County manager Frank Lampard has offered some further insight on ‘Spygate.’

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since Leeds United and Derby County were battling it out in the second tier but, with Neville asking a variety of questions to Lampard, it was perhaps only natural that Spygate and what happened at Derby’s training ground would eventually come up.


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Indeed, at the time, there was a little bit of a media storm but Lampard admits he probably felt less angry about it than it appeared in the press at the time.

Speaking to Neville, he said:

“You know what? It’s a hard one for me. It really came across that I was really angry about it, and I kind of was, but it was more my game face.

“If I stepped out and said ‘everyone does that, who cares?’, it would have [led to nothing.]

“I felt it was a bit out of order. The spy thing came the day before we were playing them, and Harry Wilson was injured.

“So he wasn’t in the shape that we did and we did a few set pieces. But it wouldn’t have changed the game, they beat us the next day.”

Neville then asked exactly what the spy was doing, with Lampard revealing:

“He was in the bushes laying down, and he had his binoculars out. He couldn’t have got that much information, but from Bielsa’s side, he says that much information wins us the game or not.

“But it was offside. It was a little bit wrong, and I had to defend that. I can’t come out and say that, I had to just say ‘it’s out of order’.

“The good thing for me is that it did get the bit between my teeth…”

The Verdict

Derby, of course, knocked Leeds out of the play-offs that season over an epic two-legged tie but the Rams would fall short in the play-off final against Aston Villa.

Lampard says at other points in the interview with former England teammate Neville that not winning that game is the biggest regret in his career, especially with how the situation has gone at Pride Park in the time since.

Currently out of the job after leaving Chelsea at the start of the calendar year, it remains to be seen where the former England midfielder winds up next.

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