Frank Lampard was shocked to see Leeds United win the Fifa Fair Play Award following the ‘spygate’ scandal.
The club were recognised for allowing Aston Villa to score an uncontested goal in their Championship fixture at Elland Road in April that finished 1-1.
But Leeds were fined £200,000 in February and given a severe reprimand by the English Football League for spying on a Derby training session.
“I thought it was irony at first to get an award,” Lampard said.
Chelsea boss Lampard, who was in charge at Derby when Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa admitted to being responsible for the undercover operation, felt the fair play accolade was “strange”.
Asked if he choked on his breakfast cereal when he heard the news, Lampard replied: “I did smile. Do we know who votes for these things?
“What happened with ‘spygate’ was very well documented, and then they got fined, the rules changed slightly because of it, I felt it was improper.
“It was a strange decision for them to win that (the fair play award).
“I think everyone had the same reaction to be fair, because a lot of news was put to ‘spygate’.
“And I think quite rightly so and it got dealt with in the right way, so when you go and give an award for fair play in the same year, then I don’t think it’s right.”
Leeds allowed Villa to walk the ball into their net after angry scenes had broken out when they controversially went in front.
The home side looked set to stop play because of an injury to Villa striker Jonathan Kodjia before playing on and scoring through Mateusz Klich.
“The moment in itself when you look back, I remember watching the game, it was a dead rubber against Villa,” added Lampard.
“It was quite right that they give Villa the opportunity to score, quite right to level out the balance of what had happened.”
