TV pundits Richard Keys and Andy Gray, who "were forced out of Sky Sports after the sexist scandal involving assistant referee Sian Massey, are to resurrect their TV careers in Qatar," according to Charles Sale of the London DAILY MAIL.
The pair "are to base themselves in Doha next season to present a range of football programmes for the English language channel of Middle East TV giants Al Jazeera."
This follows Al Jazeera closing down its London operation and moving all the production to its global headquarters in Qatar. Keys and Gray, whose contract for their daily show on talkSPORT expired at the end of May, "will continue working for the radio station once a week from Qatar." They "will present a weekly programme on Fridays previewing the weekend's football."
Keys tweeted on Monday: "Wouldn't and couldn't "walk out" on TS. I owe them too much. Best work place I've ever been in. Doesn't try to be something it isn't." Their Qatar portfolio "is also likely to include the Premier League, on which their acclaimed partnership was forged during two decades at Sky." The Middle East rights for the Premier League "are with agency MP & Silva who are expected following protracted negotiations to eventually sell them on to Al Jazeera" (DAILY MAIL, 6/11).
