Marcelo Bielsa paid Leeds’ £200k spygate fine out of his own pocket

MARCELO BIELSA paid Leeds' £200,000 spygate fine out of his own pocket.

And the Argie tactician has also promised to cover any charges coming from a fiery 1-1 draw with Aston Villa.

Derby spotted a member of the Elland Road club's staff watching their training session before a Championship clash in January and their boss took the blame.

Bielsa said: "As we are clarifying things I think it's important to add two things not linked to this subject.

"The sanction I received that the federation [The FA] gave us - £200,000 - it's a financial sanction the club received not against me.

"But I am responsible for it and that's why I paid from my pocket the sanction."

Leeds are also facing sanctions after two brawls erupted during their clash with play-off rivals Villa.

The first came as the Yorkshire club played on with a Villans' ace down injured - pretending to put the ball out of play before scoring to make it 1-0.

Bielsa ordered his players to allow Villa to walk in an equaliser but Pontus Jansson tried to make a challenge - sparking another melee.

Patrick Bamford has been given a two-game ban after taking a tumble to get Ahmed Elmohamady sent off.

Leeds will have to reach the Premier League the hard way after seeing Norwich and Sheffield United take the automatic spots.

And Bielsa insists he could stay at Elland Roasd - even if his side come up short in the play-offs.

He added: "I have never said that if we don't get promoted that I won't carry on my work here.

"I haven't said I was going to leave and I haven't said I was going to stay, I just said it wasn't the moment to talk about the subject and I just said it's about receiving the proposal.

"I would never say that if we stay in the Championship I won't stay here because otherwise you would say the importance of the team and the club is linked to the division in which it plays."