Preston’s Keith Keane: Fix case was like a living hell

By Sam Elliott

KEITH KEANE fears he may never be able to shake off the stigma attached to being wrongfully arrested for match-fixing – and says it’s time for players’ identities to be kept out of the public domain until a guilty verdict is reached.

Preston North End midfielder Keane was one of 13 players arrested in April last year after a sting by the Sun on Sunday’s undercover crime reporter Mazher Mahmood.

The ‘Fake Sheikh’ presented “evidence” that the players, including former Premier League star DJ Campbell, Oldham‘s Cristian Montano and Barnsley‘s Stephen Dawson, were getting themselves booked or sent off in return for thousands of pounds.

Five of Keane’s Deepdale team-mates –Bailey Wright, Ben Davies, Graham Cummings, David Buchanan and John Welsh – were also arrested and charged.

The case crumbled this week after prosecutors dropped the investigation having considered the reliability of the tabloid reporter.

It was thrown out after the journalist had his credibility called into question following the breakdown of former XFactor judge Tulisa Contostavlos’ trial for brokering a narcotics deal last year.

Torture

The star, 26, walked free after Judge Alistair McCreath said there were “strong grounds” that Mahmood lied in the witness box.

That prompted the case against the players, also involving former Portsmouth player Sam Sodje, his brothers, the Tranmere pair Steve and Akpo, and Rovers defender Ian Goodison, to also collapse.

Keane today becomes the first of the 13 to talk about what he described as one of the lowest points in his life. The 28-year-old says his nine months of “torture” has taken its toll on his family as well – and is petrified that he will forever be tarred as a cheat with minimal coverage of their acquittal.

The former Luton Town man said: “My biggest worry is that for the rest of my life people will still consider me a match-fixer. That frightens me.

“They (the police) don’t tell you anything. You don’t know what’s going on, and that scares you. I didn’t understand why I was arrested in the first place and, truthfully, I still don’t.

“It’s been a long and tortuous nine months. There has been no apology from anyone and that’s a frustration. The media were running our names and all our pictures when we were charged, but now? It’s next to nothing. They arrest us, let our faces be circulated and after we are told we’re cleared, it’s silence.

Preston’s Keith Keane, right, in action

“There is no mention of it anywhere now and that’s why I believe some people will understandably still see us as matchfixers. It’s wrong.

“It’s wrong that the same amount of coverage isn’t being made to be given compared to when we were arrested, and it’s wrong in the first place that our names were made public. It shouldn’t happen, and it needs to be looked at as things may not ever be the same for any of us again. It’s always in the back of people’s minds that ‘they got away with it’ – we didn’t, but people don’t know that.

Angry

“We are innocent. We have done nothing wrong. We should never have been brought in in the first place and I am worried my name will always be associated with this scandal.

“When you read things in newspapers, and I’m guilty of it myself, you instantly believe it must be true. It’s very hard to clear your name, a name that you’ve been working hard for all your playing career.

“I have been in the dark for nine months. My house was raided and I still haven’t had the possessions that the investigators took returned to me. I have been told nothing.

“It’s not so much relief. Relief suggests you had something that was worrying you. I’m in disbelief still that I was ever arrested in the first place. I am angry, I am mad – it’s up there with the worst moments I have ever been through.”

Keane changed location in September, going on loan for three months to fellow League One side Crawley after admitting the case had damaged his performance.

But he reserved special thanks for North End, who were unwavering in their support for their midfielder and his five fellow team-mates throughout.

“Preston were fantastic, absolutely fantastic,” added Keane. “I would like to place on record my thanks to them – I am sure I speak for the others as well.

“From day one they told us they believed us. They let us carry on playing and their support was sensational.

“Some clubs may not have stuck by their players because of the severity of the allegations but they did and I can’t thank them enough for that. The same goes for my family and  friends.

“At first, myself and the others laughed and joked about it. That’s how perplexed we were. Then the reality hit home that this could actually ruin us.

“I am thankful it never got to that stage but there is a lot of damage done. How much, only time will tell us.”