Ahead of his upcoming return to the UK at the end of the season, Richard Keys has penned an emotional farewell to Premier League football.
Keys, a presenter for beIN Sports who has lived in Qatar for 13 years, was informed by the network that his contract will not be renewed this summer, according to a February article.
Andy Gray, a close friend and longtime broadcasting colleague of Keys, is also scheduled to depart the channel and is apparently intending to return to the UK.
Keys, 69, and Lucie Rose, 37, who he has been in a long-distance relationship with since they secretly wed in a £20,000 ceremony in Devon in June 2023, are anticipated to move in together permanently.
Additionally, Keys posted a picture from the beginning of his journey to X to commemorate the occasion ahead of the last day of the Premier League season.
“An era is coming to an end,” he declared. Today is K&G’s final time hosting Premier League football, not Spurs or W Ham. 1992–2026.
As he gets about to depart from beIN Sports, Richard Keys posted a farewell to Premier League football.
Andy Gray, a close friend and longtime broadcasting colleague of Keys, will also depart from beIN Sports. “What a ride—34 years, countless games & goals.” They’ve all been seen by us. Come join us at 16.30 Mecca. What happened to the black hair?
The 70-year-old Keys and Gray moved to Doha in 2013, two years after they were both fired from Sky Sports due to a sexism issue.
That occurred in January 2011 when the pair’s sexist comments regarding Sian Massey, a female assistant referee, were discovered and made public when they believed their microphones were off.
After a video of Gray making offensive remarks to broadcaster Charlotte Jackson was made public, Gray was fired by Sky Sports. Shortly after, Keys quit his £500,000-per-year position.
After accusing the two of making sexist comments about her pregnant on a trip to the 2005 Champions League final in her 2022 memoir The First Half, the humiliated former Sky Sports host later vowed to sue Match of the Day host Gabby Logan.
Keys retorted, “I did more for her, in the early part of her career, than anybody,” after he and Gray were called “dinosaurs waiting to become extinct.”
“Andy and I were easy pickings.” Attacking us is simple.I believe there are issues that can be resolved without going to court, but I don’t plan to see her.
“I was really disappointed,” Gray continued. My life is about the present and the future, not the past ten years. or 17 years ago in that purported instance. I want to go on with my life.
Keys and Gray have led coverage of the Champions League and Premier League in 24 Middle Eastern and North African nations since joining beIN Sports. They have also presented for the network at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
A representative for Keys told the Mail in February on the news of their departures: “Richard decided some months ago that, after 13 great years, the time had come to leave beIN with Andy.” Following his decision, it was decided that May of this year would mark his last broadcasts for the station.
In 2007, Keys (center) was photographed with his ex-wife Julia (left) and their daughter Jemma (right).
Keys married Lucie Rose in a secret ceremony in Devon in June 2023, making her his second wife.
When news of his shocking romance with Lucie Rose surfaced in 2016, Keys also courted controversy by divorcing his wife Julia after 36 years of marriage. Jemma, his daughter, was friends with Rose.
Later, his ex-wife described how the affair “devastated” her while she battled thyroid cancer and destroyed their two children’s life.
Julia said that her daughter, a Hollyoaks actress, fell into alcoholism and depression as a result of the affair, ruining her career.
Before the prosecution dropped the charges, Jemma was also sued for sending Lucie Rose a series of abusive texts.
