talkSPORT host Jim White has heaped praise on Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa and the club after they won the FIFA Fair Play Award last night.
The award was given after Bielsa instructed his side to let Aston Villa score after a controversial incident in their Championship game last season.
Leeds scored with a Villa player down with an injury, which led to a bust-up between the players on the pitch.
From the kick-off, the Leeds players stood to one side and let Villa walk the ball into the net.
Talking on talkSPORT on Tuesday morning (The Jim White Show, Tuesday, 10am), White said, “Congratulations to Marcelo Bielsa and Leeds for the FIFA Fair Play award and that fantastic bit of sportsmanship against Aston Villa.
“What great class he showed. It was a great standout moment. That’s what I want to see, Leeds making headlines like this.
“Leeds fans might be surprised but I like the club a lot. The history of the club goes back a long way. It’s really good news, it’s made me very, very happy.”
Terrace talk
Fair play to White for saying this and setting the record straight on what he thinks about Leeds.
He’s right – his reputation among Leeds supporters isn’t great after his views and constant publicity about the spygate scandal on his show.
Here are some of the reactions from Leeds fans tagging in White on Twitter after the award was announced.
It’s as if Football’s World Governing Body awarding #lufc a fair play award, would indicate that #spygate wasn’t quite the “moral vacuum” that @JimWhite would have you believe… ? it’s a curious one!
— Dirty Leeds (@DirtyLeedsFC) September 23, 2019
https://twitter.com/LeeTate764/status/1176246082059350018
One fan asked if Jim White had “mentioned this yet?” He has now and he’s made it very clear what he thinks about it. He didn’t mention spygate and just said that the award made him “very, very happy”.
We can understand why fans were annoyed by his views on spygate, but he wasn’t alone.
And his show on talkSPORT thrives on stories like that. It gets listeners tuning in.
@JimWhite @talkSPORT I was just wondering if you’ll be talking about Liverpool paying Man City for hacking into their scouting system? Or are you going to bleat on about #spygate again seeing as we have won a fair play award! #LUFC
— keith o'neil (@keithoneil85) September 24, 2019
The @EFL @talkSPORT @JimWhite and all the others that played their part in making sure #SpyGate was blown all out of proportion should be slightly embarrassed by FIFA’s fair play award for Bielsa,
They brush over racism in football and breaking rules on Financial Fairplay. #Lufc— Martin Threadgold (@FredgoldMartin) September 24, 2019
We do agree with this point, though. It’s fair to say that spygate was blown out of all proportion and more was said about it than constant cheating/diving on the pitch.
It was a media outlet’s dream, though, attracting commentary from pretty much everyone in the football world, including Gary Lineker, one of the few pundits who came out on Bielsa’s side.
@JimWhite is currently sat in a dark room still fuming that “the cheat” Marcelo bielsa won the fair play award #lufc
Heard this is actually a visual image of Jim white right now: pic.twitter.com/xi1M4K7oB3
— kian ??????? (@kianlufc) September 24, 2019