Tony Mowbray feels the FA and EFL need to take a hard stance with the ‘spygate’ scandal that has rocked the Championship in the last week.

Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa admitted he dispatched a member of his coaching team to Derby County’s training ground last week ahead of their league game at Elland Road.

It is a tactic the Argentine says he has used throughout his career, with the EFL having launched a formal investigation in to the matter following complaints from the Rams.

Police were called to Derby’s training ground after reports of a man acting suspiciously, with an EFL statement saying “the alleged actions appear to contravene the club’s charter that all EFL clubs agreed to in summer 2018.”

For Mowbray, he says there are huge advantages to be gained by watching the opposition prior to the game.

He explained: “I’m pretty conscious of not becoming a mouthpiece on it, but I have been disappointed that a lot of ex-players have de-valued it and laughed it off, as if it’s common place.

“As a coach I think there’s a huge amount to be gained by knowing what the opposition is before the game kicks off. At the end of the day, I think it’s wrong.

“The Football Association and the EFL need to deal with it, not be laughed off, as if it’s okay to send an employee and write down their team and their tactics.

“Were they in the bushes at Brockhall before we played Leeds? Is it okay if they are?

“I would love to know the team of everyone we played so I could change my team. If they had a full back who is great with the ball but can’t run then I’d be playing Adam Armstrong up against that full back, otherwise I might have Elliott Bennett running up and down that line matching him.

“If I knew before kick off then I would have selected my team accordingly, based on the strengths and weakness of the opposition.

“You don’t know. That’s one of the beauties of football, you have to adjust as the game unfolds.”

Mowbray feels the issue is bigger than what it has been perceived throughout the footballing world, and feels it could open up a whole number of scenarios across the game if the FA, or EFL, don’t make a stand.

“I say that to my 14-year-old son, go and find the little slow kid and play on that side of the pitch against him because he is fast and strong and can just run past him and score lots of goals,” he added.

“That’s what football is about, you have to use your assets.

“I personally think it’s wrong. Why don’t we employ someone, give him £20,000 a year and his only job is to take his binoculars to go and send him to every team’s training ground? Or get someone who’s really good with a drone and get him to take it to take it to every team’s training centre and tape their whole session, set pieces, who’s playing, who’s not, and I will sit and watch it on Friday night and pick my team on a Saturday morning.

“I would be seeing my perception of their weak points. Did they (Leeds) know (Derby winger) Harry Wilson wasn’t going to be playing? Would have they played Alioski left back if they thought Wilson was playing?

“There’s an advantage to be gained and if you’re not a football coach you wouldn’t necessarily see that.

“Maybe 20 or 30 years ago fans could come in and watch training but I don’t think any manager would now let anyone come in and watch training on a Friday because he does his team work and preparation on a Friday.

“It’s bigger than what we think.”