Former Bolton Wanderers striker Delroy Facey ‘cast his net’ to try and find players willing to take part in match-fixing of lower league matches, a court has heard.
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The 34-year-old is accused of acting as the middleman to two convicted match-fixers and of becoming involved in the ‘ugly side’ of the professional game.
The ex-Premier League star is standing trial at Birmingham Crown Court alongside a former non-league player, Moses Swaibu – both deny the charges against them.
“Football in this case is really nothing more than a means to an end – it’s an opportunity to make money,” said the Crown’s prosecutor Nick Mather, who also told the jury they would not need to be experts in football to find these men guilty according to the Daily Mail.
“It’s described sometimes as the beautiful game but football has an ugly side to it as well, and it’s that ugly side we are going to be looking at.”
Facey is alleged to be the middle-man, the man who would find potential co-conspirators to take part in potential match-fixing for two men; Chann Sankaran and Krishna Ganeshan, who have already been found guilty of conspiracy to commit bribery at a previous trial.
The court heard how Sankaran and Ganeshan had attempted to corrupt Swaibu and had travelled to Britain with the sole intent of fixing matches.
Only lower-league matches were targeted, said Mr Mather, due to the lower-levels of scrutiny compared with Premier League matches.
“He was a middleman, a fixer. He was somebody who cast his net around to find players who might be willing to take part in match-fixing,” Mr Mather said when describing the accused Facey.
“This case is not about whether this scheme existed,” Mr Mather added.
“The issue for you to decide is whether you are sure that firstly, Delroy Facey, and secondly Moses Swaibu, was a part of that agreement.
“This case is focused on them and what they did, and why they did it.”
The case continues and is expected to last for three weeks.