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17th Jan 2019

Squeaky clean Martin Keown says he’d be embarrassed to play for Bielsa

Reuben Pinder

Not the first time Martin Keown has gone in two-footed.

If we’ve learned anything from spygate, it’s that English football still has a way to go before we catch up with the rest of the world when it comes to preparation, analysis, and not losing our shit over the most minuscule of issues.

With pundits on TV suggesting that the score should be reversed as a result of someone standing on a road, looking through a fence, and various members of the media calling for Leeds to be docked points, it’s clear that faux outrage is more prominent among the Proper Football Men than millennials, who – on the whole – seem to find the whole thing hilarious.

The latest ex-professional to criticise Bielsa’s determination to leave no stone unturned is Martin Keown, who stated in his Daily Mail column that he would be embarrassed to play for a manager who acted in such a way.

“If this was my manager spying on our opponents’ training sessions, I would be embarrassed,” Keown said in his Mail column.

“As much as you want to win, you want to do so as fairly as possible.

“I won’t pretend that I was the best-behaved player on the pitch. But when I did overstep the mark during a game, it was a reaction in the heat of battle.

“What Marcelo Bielsa has been doing at Leeds is premeditated. He may say otherwise, but watching your opponents train gives you an unfair advantage.”

Bielsa has accepted full responsibility for sending a member of his staff to watch Derby County train, and admitted in his impromptu press briefing yesterday that he does the same to all his opponents.

He also maintains that he did nothing wrong. No laws were broken. It was hilarious, and Keown needs to dismount his high horse.

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