Stop this evil! 'Horrified' football chief hits out as two charged in match-fixing probe

The chairman of the league believed to be at the centre of match-fixing allegations has called for the authorities to ‘stop the evil ruining our game’.

Brian Lee, the former Wycombe Wanderers manager, told Sportsmail he is ‘horrified’ by the possibility that players in the Conference may have been bribed by betting syndicates to rig matches.

Seven people, including former Bolton striker Delroy Facey, have been arrested and it has been announced that two men have now been charged.

Arrested: Delroy Facey here celebrates scoring in the Premier League for Bolton in 2003

 

Two charged, seventh man held over UK match-fixing

Chann Sankaran, a 33-year-old Singapore national, and Krishna Sanjey Ganeshan, a 43-year-old with dual British and Singapore nationality, will appear at a magistrates’ court in Cannock on Friday. They have been charged with conspiring to defraud bookmakers ‘by influencing the course of football matches and placing bets thereon’ this month, between November 1 and 26.

It is understood the charges concern two Conference matches during that period.
The maximum sentence for the offence is 10 years, and the National Crime Agency have confirmed that the other five men had been released on bail without charge.

On Thursday the Singapore ‘fixer’ who was exposed in covert videos broadcast by the Daily Telegraph also claimed he could bribe referees across Europe and had influenced the outcome of World Cup qualifying matches. 

FIFA are examining those claims but the arrests suggest criminal Far Eastern syndicates may have penetrated the lower echelons of English football.

The average salary of a Conference player is small by modern professional football standards. While 21 of the 24 clubs are now full-time professional outfits, most players earn around £500 a week and in the majority of cases that is their only income. For this reason, syndicates believe key players can be bought for as little as £70,000 to throw a game.

Lee said: ‘I have no evidence that it is the Conference but I would be absolutely horrified if something like this had affected our competition. I’m horrified that anyone would want to ruin our game. These people must be evil if they want to destroy the very essence of sport and I only hope that, if they are guilty, they are dealt with severely. I will obviously leave it to the Football Association and the relevant authorities to establish that.’

And Chris Eaton, who has worked in sport integrity at FIFA and Interpol and is now a director at the International Centre for Sport Security in Doha, has accused English football authorities of complacency in reacting to what he says is a global problem. ‘It was only a matter of time before the English game was caught up in this global wave of match-fixing in  football,’ he said. ‘The arrests in Australia of English journeyman footballers several months ago was a wake-up call.

'Horrified': Former Wycombe Wanderers manager Brian Lee (right) is concerned about the revelations

‘But this disclosure must be put in a global context. Governments and football administrations must not react emotionally, but coolly and rationally. Everyone really knew that match-fixing is endemic in football. And, in this case, there is nothing new in terms of the corrupting method, its internationality or in the core betting-fraud purpose.
‘What is new is that it shocks a complacent England, the home of the game. That shock should be used to galvanise international efforts to regulate and supervise sport betting globally.’

FOOTBALL'S FIXERS

A First Division match between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford on Good Friday in April 1915 was fixed in United's favour, with players from both sides benefiting from bets placed on the result.

Three players from the English first division - Peter Swan, Tony Kay and David Layne - were paid to fix a game between their side, Sheffield Wednesday, and Ipswich in December 1962, which Wednesday lost 2-0. All three got four months' imprisonment and life bans.

Unusual betting patterns were reported on a match between Accrington Stanley and Bury in May 2008. A FA investigation resulted in Jay Harris being banned for a year, David Mannix for 10 months, Robert Williams and Peter Cavanagh for eight months and Andrew Mangan for five months. They were fined between £2,000 and 5,000.
Four Australian players, who used to play for Hornchurch, were arrested in September after allegedly conceding goals as part of a match-fixing ring.

Eaton has repeatedly called for a more global approach to tackling match-fixing in sport, particularly with regard to unregulated and  illegal betting markets.
‘Strategically, governments must tackle the right enemy — betting fraud,’ he added. ‘Clearly, international sport, especially football, is in serious trouble with corruption of its competitions.’
To support Eaton’s claims, news has emerged of a similar operation in Austria.
Because the NCA investigation is ongoing, the teams, the three players arrested and the games believed to be at the centre of the allegations cannot be revealed. But between 2009 and 2012 Facey played for Conference sides Lincoln and Hereford and Lincoln City manager Gary Simpson has said he had reported a game to the FA because he suspected match-fixing.

Simpson said the match he reported was not during either of his two spells at his current club. But he was not surprised to learn of the new allegations, saying: ‘I have been involved in games where you think something is not right and I certainly flagged one of them up.

‘I don’t know how they are going to get around it or how they are going to stop it. You seem to be able to bet on anything these days. It is certainly a worry for football and for the game in this country.

‘I was involved in a game, I don’t want to say where it was, but there were two penalties given against us. I was told there had been an irregular betting pattern on it during the game and before the game.

‘I flagged that up. We heard from the authorities that it was correct and there had been an irregular betting pattern in the game.

Predictable? Former Football Association chief Mark Palios said that he could see it coming

Concerned: But managers Roberto Martinez (left) and Steve Clarke have encouraged action to be taken 

‘We lost the game and we ended up having a player sent off. This was not while I was at Lincoln City.’
Europol’s Soren Pedersen said: ‘It is not just Asian gangs, it is also Russian-speaking criminals and criminals working out of the  Balkans. It’s big business for organised crime.’
The FA’s integrity unit have been working closely with the authorities on this case and former FA chief executive Mark Palios said he thought ‘this is something that’s been coming for quite some time’.

Director of Sport Integrity: Battle against match-fixing is...

What they said about the scandal

ROBERTO MARTINEZ
Everton manager
There is no grey area. Sometimes it is difficult to find out and get a face behind it but we need to eradicate this problem. The integrity of our competition, especially in the British leagues, means there is no space for it and we should be very strong in dealing with it.
STEVE CLARKE
West Brom manager
People have opportunities to bet on almost anything these days. We have to be vigilant, we have to stay on top of it and the fact there is an investigation into something untoward that may have happened is good. That means we’re on the ball and we’re trying to keep an
eye on it.
MARTIN KEOWN
Of course I’m shocked. In all the years I was playing, there was never any suggestion of match-fixing. It’s not something you could do in isolation, players would have to know what was going on, you’d all have to be complicit.
There are things open to abuse with the markets available, but there was never any suggestion of that during my career. If it’s true, I’d like to think it’s a very isolated instance.
SOREN KRAGH PEDERSEN
EUROPOL spokesman
This is not a surprise because when we look around Europe it is practically everywhere and in some of the major leagues but, of course, also the minor divisions.
We see it everywhere so it would be a surprise if you did not find it in England also.’
TWITTER REACTION
‘If breaking news on match-fixing proves to be true, life bans for players who do it and move on. I can assure you there’s not 7k down the back of my sofa. A coco pop, a biro and 16p. I just looked.’
STAN COLLYMORE @StanCollymore
‘The football match-fixing scandal is shocking... If guilty, ban whoever is involved for life.... The best and only deterrent...’
MICHAEL VAUGHAN @MichaelVaughan
‘Really hope these reports about match-fixing aren’t true! #BanThePlayersForLife’
DARREN HUCKERBY @hucks6dh6

He added: ‘I think FIFA and UEFA have seen this because it’s a worldwide phenomenon and it was naive to suggest that our game at some stage would not be impacted by it. I’m disappointed, but not necessarily surprised.’
The suggestion that this could even extend to World Cup qualification matches is sure to concern the authorities, even though the NCA investigation is not understood to concern such claims.
The alleged fixer, who was arrested earlier this week, claimed he fixed World Cup games and matches in Europe and Australia.
During a secretly recorded meeting he is heard saying: ‘I do Australia, Scotland. Ireland. Europe. World Cup. World Cup qualifier.’
He claimed to control the entire team for one African country, which also cannot be named for legal reasons.
The alleged fixer is also understood to have told a former FIFA investigator involved in the filming of the videos that he could pay referees as well as players to manipulate the results of games.
But when the investigator queried the World Cup claim, the alleged fixer said: ‘At least, at least 15. I bought the match.’
The Singaporean national then claimed that he controlled one African country’s ‘whole team’.
The man also said that he worked closely with a registered FIFA agent, which meant he could organise matches throughout the world.
‘He’s a very close friend,’ he explained. ‘My boss is the one who asked him to spend the money to get the licence.’

The man also said he could arrange international friendly matches, and could control matches in Europe.
‘I got team in Belgium. France as well I got,’ he said.
‘Good teams. Their country, most of these place their salaries are very low . . . Like Germany, the players, they pay high..  France not so high. Very moderate. But Finland, Belgium, Sweden, all everybody all [earn] very less.’

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg called for the allegations to be investigated.
‘It needs to be looked at,’ he said. ‘Like any person who follows football I’ve read accounts of football match-fixing in other countries and thought there by the grace of God go we.
‘To hear that it’s now being investigated here, there have been arrests in the Midlands, is very worrying.’