Liam Lawrence says he's been impressed with Marcelo Bielsa's honesty after the Leeds boss admitted to spying on other teams in the Championship this season.

The controversy came after an employee of the club was caught spying on one of Derby County's training sessions the day before they played Frank Lampard's side.

Speaking on the Keith Andrews Show on Off The Ball, the former Ireland international admitted that cases of spying are common in the game.

"To be fair to him, it's a breath of fresh air that he's come out so openly and honest and said 'Yeah I did it, so what?'," he said.

"It's obviously upset Lampard and a few other people, but it's been going on for years. Other managers might know the teams on a Friday, other players speak to their mates and things get leaked.

"But sending someone to the training ground and hiding in the trees is a new one for me."

He also revealed that during his time at Stoke City, then-manager Tony Pulis called a halt to a training session after he spotted people observing their session.

"We once had someone try to watch us at an away game. We'd gone on out on to the pitch in the hotel on the morning of the game to work on some shape.

"There were some people watching, so Pulis stopped the session and sent two of the coaches over. These people wouldn't leave. He storms over and gives them a bit of stick and they soon left."

We heard from @LiamLawrence07 about the time Tony Pulis found spies at Stoke's training ground 😂

Thursday's Keith Andrews Show 👉 https://t.co/SUjDYxXSHP #StokeCity #Stoke pic.twitter.com/d7S3t1Wciv

— Off The Ball (@offtheball) January 17, 2019