Someone's on our side (this from Teeside Live today)
Nicky Butt hits out at Middlesbrough Spygate row
Former Manchester United midfielder Nicky Butt has weighed in on the current 'Spygate' row – taking aim at Middlesbrough boss Kim Hellberg in the process.
Speaking via Paddy Power, he said: "It's been going on for years. I remember when we first started playing in Europe, I was probably about 20, we used to always train the night before a game at the ground and the manager would never ever, ever do the real starting eleven.
"He'd always do a fake one. He'd never do set pieces, he'd have two star players limp off with ice packs on their hamstring because he was always thinking people were watching.
"People can say, ‘It's not right, it's cheating’. It's just what it is in high level football. Teams will know the starting eleven, you know all the players, you can just go and watch games anytime you want. They can see it all on WyScout.
"It's a bit stupid really. If Southampton need to watch Middlesbrough like this after a full season then the manager and all the recruitment team and all the scouting team should be sacked on the spot.
"They should know everything about them - there's no secrets in football. They know who's injured, they know who's not injured.
"Anyone who is 80 per cent fit to play will play in a semi-final second leg. It is a ruling in the FA, and I get it, but it's been going on for years and it will go on for years again.
"I don't see the problem with it. You can go and watch training at most grounds from a distance.
"Maybe some of the high level Premier League ones are like Fort Knox, but most grounds up and down the country and around the world you can get within 100 metres of a fence to watch training.
"What are you going to be able to tell the manager the next day? I know how to beat Middlesbrough because I've seen a lad do a little run down the side’.
"It's just bulls***, it's ridiculous. It’s so childish. It will happen with every single manager.
"But any manager that calls people cheats over it are hypocrites because they're doing exactly the same. Maybe not through their own eyes but through sending other people to watch it."
