Prem captains accused in betting scam - Saints legend Lundekvam reveals ‘fraud’

Posted Wednesday, July 11, 2012 by The Sun

Prem captains accused in betting scam - Saints legend Lundekvam reveals ‘fraud’
WHISTLEBLOWER ... Claus Lundekvam's revelations have uncovered a football scandal

A SENSATIONAL betting scandal rocked the Premier League last night.

Former Southampton captain Claus Lundekvam has blown the lid on systematic fraud by top-flight players.

The stars made thousands of pounds by spot-fixing — just like the three jailed Pakistan cricketers.

Lundekvam, 39, insists other Premier League skippers colluded with the betting scam. In a series of startling interviews in his native Norway, Lundekvam claimed that he and fellow Saints aces raked in thousands betting on their own games — for a spell, doing it ‘almost every week’.

He alleged they used club staff to put big stakes on incidents like the first throw-in or corner, that they conspired with captains from opposing teams to ensure the bets came off and that the problem was rife in a Premier League where players lived in a ‘bubble’.

Lundekvam, who played for Saints from 1996 to 2008 and won 40 Norway caps, said: “It’s not something I’m proud of.

“For a while we did this almost every week. We made a fair bit of money. We could make deals with the opposing captain about, for example, betting on the first throw, the first corner, who started with the ball, a yellow card or a penalty.

“Those were the sorts of thing we had influence over.”

But Lundekvam insisted he and his team-mates had never doctored the result of a game.

He added: “The results were never on the agenda. That is something I would never have done. We were professional competitors. Even though what we did, of course, was illegal, it was just a fun thing.”

The English and global football authorities, not to mention the police and the Premier League’s millions of fans worldwide, are unlikely to take the same view.

Betting on penalties, in particular, would take the fixing into new territory since the outcome of matches would clearly be affected if a goal was scored.

And Lundekvam, who fell into cocaine and alcohol abuse after retiring in 2008, insists it was not just Saints players who were breaking the law and FA rules.

He declared: “I know it happened at other clubs as well.

“We footballers live in a bubble. It was part of the lifestyle and the excitement. Whatever we could bet on, we bet on.”