Inside Richard Keys and Andy Gray’s Sky Sports exit – what was said and ‘set-up’ claim
It’s easy to forget that Richard Keys and Andy Gray used to be the be-all and end-all of football broadcasting in the UK – you know, given how quickly they devolved into two whiney old men yelling at clouds over on beIN SPORTS.
The duo, who fronted Sky Sports’ coverage of the Premier League for the best part of 20 years, were sacked in 2011 when off-air audio of them making sexist comments about Premier League official Sian Massey were leaked.
Two years later, they moved out to Qatar, jumping on the gulf state’s burgeoning football bandwagon after they were controversially announced as hosts of the 2022 World Cup.
It’s been a while, and with the pair being interview by Piers Morgan this week, in case you’ve forgotten precisely what happened to Keys and Gray, we’ve broken it all down below.
READ MORE: Piers Morgan’s latest interview with Keys and Gray will clash with Ronaldo match
What Keys and Gray said
(Image: PhotoEye.co.uk)
During Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Wolves in January 2011, after Massey made a tight (but ultimately correct) offside call, Keys, thinking his microphone was switched off, said to Gray: “Somebody better get down there and explain offside to her Massey.”
Gray replied: “Yeah, I know. Can you believe that? Female linesman. Forget what I said – they probably don’t know the offside rule.”
“Course they don’t,” said Keys, before Gray responded: “Why is there a female linesman? Somebody’s f***** up big.”
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The initial fallout
(Image: PA)
When the audio went public, Keys phoned Massey to apologise, and despite his claims that it was warmly accepted, pressure began to mount on the presenters, especially when further off-air footage was released showing the two behaving in a sexist manner.
In a statement, Keys apologised for what he described as “prehistoric banter” and said: “Such comments were made off-air to work colleagues, and were, of course, never intended to be broadcast.” He added: “If off-air conversations of television and radio presenters were recorded, there would be no one left working. That is not to defend what happened.”
Keys later did an interview with talkSPORT in an attempt to save his job, but his insistence that it was “just banter” won him few sympathisers.
Departures
Sky had initially considered suspending the duo, but under the weight of considerable external pressure they decided that parting ways was the only viable option.
Gray was sacked for ‘unacceptable and offensive behaviour’, while Keys resigned – knowing full well the axe was about to fall his way too.
Their departures allowed Sky Sports to have their first major reshuffle in years, with Ed Chamberlain and Gary Neville replacing them as lead presenter and pundit. Meanwhile Keys and Gray found new homes out in Qatar, co-anchoring Al Jazeera’s, and eventually beIN SPORTS’, football coverage.
Claims of a set up
In a recent interview with The Athletic, Keys claimed he and Gray were victims of a choreographed set up, and that the audio that cost them their jobs was recorded on someone’s phone, rather than being picked by their mics.
“The incident, we should have seen coming. It was a set-up, of course it was. But they made capital out of it,” said Keys.
“Don’t forget, neither of us were caught behind an open mic. What happened to me was recorded on a telephone in that studio, it seems to me it was done with a specific purpose. Andy wasn’t live when he was stood pitch side.”
What’s happened since
In an interview with The Scottish Sun in 2018, Gray admitted he still felt “angry” about his departure from Sky, insisting that while he regretted what he said, it was “probably what 90% of the supporters in the stadium were saying when they saw Sian”.
The duo bumped into Massey at Birmingham Airport in 2021, with Keys claiming: “We all laughed, she was a little embarrassed.
(Image: @piersmorgan/Twitter)
“And Andy had to explain to her, ‘It was absolutely nothing to do with you. It really wasn’t. So don’t ever think that it was’. It was nothing to do with Sian.
“We don’t blame her at all. She’s been fantastic. The smallest things, she gets right. She has been brilliant. And I’m really pleased she’s gone on to make a mark.”
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