FORMER Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar, bitter at the level of his £160,000-a-year salary, took a £40,000 bribe to throw a Premiership match, a jury heard yesterday in what is alleged to be the biggest scandal to hit British football in 30 years.
A web of intrigue, also involving soccer stars Hans Segers and John Fashanu and a Far Eastern betting syndicate paying out huge sums of money to influence results, was outlined to Winchester Crown Court yesterday.
Mr Grobbelaar, upset at the amount his club was paying him, "did business" with a syndicate which wanted to influence the outcome of the game between Liverpool and Newcastle. Newcastle won 3-0.
On his way to a secret meeting with the Malayan representative of the syndicate, Mr Grobbelaar spoke of making "big bucks" from "chucking games", prosecutor Mr David Calvert Smith QC said on the opening day of Mr Grobbelaar's trial on corruption charges.
Mr Segers, formerly Wimbledon's goalkeeper, is said to have been involved in a similar, but separate, arrangement to throw games in return for large sums of money.
