FROM SPYGATE TO OPERATION MINCEMEAT

Farke needs to find 'blueprint' to beat Rams

- BY ISAAC JOHNSON

THERE are certain moments in football's history that any layman will recognise but there are those only the enthusiast will know - and 'Spygate' is one of them.

It would be a mistake to say the rivalry between Leeds and Derby started as a result of the 2019 scandal.

Both clubs had successful teams in the 1970s during a period when respective bosses Don Revie and Brian Clough shared a mutual disdain.

Yet it is correct to say that Spygate ignited the animosity to new levels. The then Leeds chief Marcelo Bielsa insisted he did not know sending a coach to watch Derby's training sessions before a Championship match in January 2019 was prohibited.

When exposed, he held a bizarre press conference to show his analysis of opposition teams in front of astonished reporters.