Leeds United’s manager, Marcelo Bielsa, has admitted to orchestrating a spying campaign against every Championship club.

The Argentine coach revealed the scale of the espionage after the ‘spygate’ row came to light when a member of his scouting team was spotted at Derby County’s training facility last week.

During an extraordinary press conference lasting 70 minutes - during which Bielsa offered a PowerPoint presentation detailing the level of opposition analysis to journalists - the coach said he sent staff on covert reconnaissance missions to every rivals’ training base in the build-up to their meetings. He claimed he did so because of his ‘anxiety’ as a coach obliging him to collect as much data as possible on opponents.

“I observed all the rivals and we watched all the training sessions of the opponents before we played against them,” Bielsa said.

“What I have done is not illegal. It's not specified and it's not restrained. We can discuss about it. It's not seen as a good thing but it is not a violation of the law.

"I didn't have bad intentions or get a sporting advantage. I did it because it was not illegal or violating a specific law.