Jose Mourinho was spying on opposition training sessions before Southampton manager Tonda Eckert was even playing football for his secondary school team, according to former Chelsea captain John Terry.
Terry made the claim in a new three-part Netflix docu-series titled "MOURINHO," due for release on Tuesday. He said Mourinho obtained footage of a rival's training session during his first season in charge of Chelsea.
The revelation comes months after Southampton's own spying scandal, dubbed Spygate, which was broken exclusively by Daily Mail Sport and dominated headlines in May. Southampton were expelled from the Championship play-off final after admitting to spying on Middlesbrough and two other rivals.
Terry's account of the Bolton footage
"I remember, we were due to play Bolton and up on the screen is Bolton's training session from the day before," Terry said in the documentary.
"And Big Sam [Allardyce] was like 'hit Gallas, he's not very good in the air' and he was like spitting on the mic," Terry said. "It was just like, wow. Who gets footage from someone's training ground? I'm actually still not sure where he got the footage from."
Unclear timing, mixed results
It is unclear whether the footage was obtained ahead of Chelsea's home or away fixture against Bolton Wanderers that season, when the club won its first Premier League title. If it was before the match at Stamford Bridge in November 2004, the tactic did not pay off, as Chelsea drew 2-2 with Sam Allardyce's side.
If the spying happened ahead of the reverse fixture, it proved more useful. Chelsea secured the title at the then-named Reebok Stadium, with Frank Lampard scoring twice in a 2-0 win.
Spying since Mourinho
Spying on rival training sessions has become more common in the two decades since. Marcelo Bielsa was found to have instructed a colleague to watch Derby County's training ahead of a Championship game in 2019.
Leeds United were fined £200,000 and reprimanded by the EFL after admitting a breach of Regulation 3.4, which states that clubs must behave towards each other and the League "with the utmost good faith."
