Well strictly speaking, Bielsa isn't a cheat. There is NOTHING in the laws of the game that precludes him having another team watched in training. He maintains, probably truthfully, that this a practice he has always adhered to throughout his footballing life. It happens that we tend not to do this sort of thing over here (at least, no one ADMITS to it
) but it is something he has always done..... and presumably so have others abroad.
So, if what he's been doing is not illegal then the only charge that can be made against him is one involving morals and ethics. Morals and ethics in football? Really? The entire game is based on cheating. Every intentional foul of any description is cheating. (He took that card for the team, we hear). No he fucking didn't, he cheated!! Every single dive is cheating. Every time a ball goes out of play you have players from both sides screaming that it's their ball when one side knows damned well that it's not. But they appeal anyway in the hope that they get the decision even when they know it's wrong. Time wasting is cheating. Pretending to be hurt in a tackle to run down the clock is cheating (the full time of the stoppage is never added on). Oh, and of course, referees and linos cheat, imo. We all know it goes on.
So my point is that there are far more urgent things that need fixing in football than a manager having another team watched in training. Teams are openly scrutinised anyway by the opposition in competitive games, so the little extra information they might glean by watching a team in training shouldn't make all that much difference. That's my take anyway for what it's worth.
PS:
@Yankee_Jack might well remember the old dressing rooms at Ponty before the team was allowed to use the modern facilities of an adjoining school. Well these changing rooms were made of wood and both teams were separated by a wooden partion wall. At the top there was a gap to allow a thick conduit pipe to run through. We discovered that when one of us climbed up there and listened through the gap, every word that was spoken in the adjoining visitor's changing room could be clearly heard. We first started doing this when Ivor came to us. Practically every team we played had a plan to rough him up and we wanted to know the what and the who of it so we could take care of it/them before they got to him. I can tell you it worked a treat. Thing is, was this cheating because we also got a sense of their game plan?
PPS: Yankee, you well know the person who first had the idea to do this and was the first to climb up there. Care to take a guess and post his initials here? I'll tell you if you're right.