Leeds won the FIFA Fair Play award last night and Athletic journalist Phil Hay delivered a perfect, cutting response on Twitter.
The award was given after manager Marcelo Bielsa instructed his side to let Aston Villa score in the Championship game at the tail-end of last season.
Leeds had scored in controversial fashion with the Villa players expecting the ball to be put out of play with one of their players injured. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.
Marcelo Bielsa of @LUFC wasn't able to be in Milan to pick up the FIFA Fair Play Award, but he still had a message to deliver#TheBest | #FIFAFootballAwards pic.twitter.com/Nk6l84Y6i4
— FIFA (@FIFAcom) September 23, 2019
After the award was announced, Hay tweeted, “Well, well. Is the prize a £200k fine?”
Hay was making a very pointed reference to the fine that Leeds were given after the spygate scandal that saw manager Bielsa accused of cheating last season.
Well, well. Is the prize a £200k fine?https://t.co/4KtriQX6WO
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) September 23, 2019
Bielsa – a man of integrity
Marcelo Bielsa holds fair play in high regard and would have been mortified to have been accused of cheating over the spygate scandal last season.
For Bielsa, watching training sessions was just a small part of his meticulous pre-match preparations.
Plenty of pundits lined up to condemn him. Martin Keown said it was “cheating” and that it broke the moral code of the game.
Sky pundit Keith Andrews said it was “disgusting” and Darren Bent also accused the Leeds manager of cheating.
The facts remain that there was no specific rule against what Bielsa did. And spygate shouldn’t take away from the sporting act that also made the headlines against Aston Villa.
Letting Villa score showed the world that fair play and justice do have a place on the football field.
It hasn’t stopped some pundits such as Chris Sutton and Michah Richards laughing in his face after the news of the award.
They've just announced the FIFA Fair Play Award for 2019 ?
'Do you know who it's gone to? Marcelo Bielsa and #LUFC' – @markchapman
'You must be joking' – @MicahRichards
'Do previous misdemeanours not count?' – @chris_sutton73
Listen:
??? https://t.co/0kUniX6SeW#bbcfootball pic.twitter.com/fn15eOZKMR— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) September 23, 2019
For us, this seems unfair and the Hay tweet is a perfect response.
Bielsa himself acted as honourably as he could after the scandal, phoning Frank Lampard and conducting a special press conference where he outlined exactly how he prepared for matches.
This award will mean a lot to him and it’s fully deserved.