Former Latics star jailed

JAILED . . . ex-Latics striker Delroy Facey has been convicted of match-fixing claims

A former Oldham Athletic striker has been jailed for two and a half years after becoming the highest-profile player to be convicted of match-fixing.

Delroy Facey (35) who also played for Bolton Wanderers, West Bromwich Albion and Hull City in the Premier League as well as a host of lesser clubs, was found guilty at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday of conspiracy to bribe non-league players.

The trial heard how Facey urged a footballer at struggling non-league Hyde FC to make some “easy money” by fixing a match. He also told a contact some Conference teams would “do” a game in return for payment.

He had denied any wrongdoing during a three-week trial, claiming he was simply humouring two corrupt businessmen offering him up to £15,000 for his part in the plot. But the court heard how in one text conversation in late 2013, Facey tried to corrupt Hyde striker Scott Spencer by offering him £2,000.

Facey, of Woodhouse Hill, Huddersfield, made contact with Spencer shortly after discussing Hyde’s poor run of form with a convicted match-fixer.

Spencer, who the court heard was not involved in any form of match-fixing, was messaged by Facey, who told him: “You lot get rinsed out, week in, week out. You should make some money out of this lad, easy money. Check this out. Four goals in a game — two in either half — and you guys can get £2,000 each, win lose or draw.”

Judge Mary Stacey said Facey’s offences struck “at the very heart of football”.

“You have been a role model, but you have abused that position,” she added.

Facey’s co-accused, former non-league player Moses Swaibu, of Tooley Street, Bermondsey, south London, was also convicted.

Sentencing both men the judge said: “It’s about the fans of the teams involved, the families who follow the fortunes of their teams with passion, loyalty and devotion. They assume all the players in those teams will be sharing in that and playing their hardest and best. You have betrayed all that trust. It’s like a cancer at the heart of football. In both cases, your motivation was financial greed.”

Swaibu (25) was jailed for 16 months.

Both men will serve half their sentences in jail and the remainder on licence.

This was the second trial linked to the same conspiracy, following the conviction last June of businessmen Chann Sankaran and Krishna Ganeshan, and former non-league player Michael Boateng.

During both trials it emerged the conspirators had failed to fix any games


DELROY Facey’s case should serve as a warning to a sport trying to keep its head above gambling’s dirty waters while knee swimming in the cash it generates, says the Chronicle’s Matthew Chambers.

Convicted yesterday of conspiring to bribe players in a match-fixing plot, the former Athletic striker has paid a heavy price for his stupidity.

Knowing Facey as I do, playing alongside him for the same junior side Stile Common in Huddersfield for five years, this is a terribly sad case of a very decent and personable individual who made the drastic error of trying to make cash illegally.

When I bumped into him three years ago, he beamed as he told me he was to stay with Hereford for an extra season. That extension was ripped up after the Bulls were relegated to the Conference; his professional career was over.

A year later he was arrested after an investigation by the Daily Telegraph.

Hopefully his example will warn others, especially those near the bottom, relatively poorly-paid rungs of the game, of the consequences of dishonest short-cuts.