Richard Keys has posted an emotional farewell to Premier League football ahead of his impending return to the UK at the end of the season.
It was reported in February that Keys, who has lived in Qatar for 13 years while working as a presenter for beIN Sports, has been told by the network that his contract will not be renewed this summer.
Andy Gray, Keys’ long-term broadcasting partner and close friend, is also set to leave the channel and is reportedly planning to return to the UK too.
Keys, 69, is expected to move in permanently with his wife, Lucie Rose, 37, with whom he has been in a long-distance relationship since they secretly married in a private £20,000 ceremony in Devon in June 2023.
And, ahead of the final day of the Premier League campaign, Keys shared a post to X to mark the occasion with a throwback photo from the start of his journey.
‘It’s the end of an era,’ he said. ‘Not Spurs or W Ham. K&G host PL football for the last time today. 1992-2026.
Richard Keys posted a farewell to Premier League football as he prepares to leave beIN Sports
Andy Gray, Keys’ long-term broadcasting partner and close friend, will also leave beIN Sports
‘What a ride – 34 years, countless games & goals. We’ve seen them all. Join us from 16.30 Mecca. Where did that black hair go?’
Keys and Gray, 70, have resided in Doha since 2013, two years after they both lost their jobs at Sky Sports in the wake of a sexism scandal.
That came when a series of sexist remarks made by the pair about female assistant referee Sian Massey were picked up and leaked in January 2011 when they thought their microphones were off.
Gray was then sacked by Sky Sports after a video showing him making inappropriate comments to presenter Charlotte Jackson was released. Keys resigned from his £500,000-a-year role shortly afterwards.
The shamed ex-Sky Sports host later threatened legal action against Match of the Day presenter Gabby Logan after her 2022 memoir The First Half accused the duo of making sexist remarks about her pregnancy on board a flight to the 2005 Champions League final.
After he and Gray were labelled ‘dinosaurs waiting to become extinct’, Keys responded: ‘I did more for her, in the early part of her career, than anybody.
‘Andy and I were easy targets. It’s easy to have a go at us. I don’t intend to see her in court, but I think there are things that can be settled away from that.’
Gray added: ‘I was really disappointed. My life’s about today and tomorrow, not 10 years ago. Or in that alleged case, 17 years ago. I want to move on with my life.’
Since joining beIN Sports, Keys and Gray have fronted coverage of the Premier League and Champions League across 24 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, while also presenting for the network at the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
In February after the reports about their exits broke, a spokesperson for Keys told the Mail: ‘Richard decided some months ago that, after 13 great years, the time had come to leave beIN with Andy. Following his decision it was mutually agreed that his final broadcasts for the channel would be in May this year.’
Keys (centre) pictured with his ex-wife Julia (left) and their daughter Jemma (right) in 2007
Lucie Rose is Keys’ second wife after they married in a private ceremony in Devon in June 2023
Meanwhile, Keys also courted controversy when he split with his wife Julia after 36 years of marriage when news of his shock relationship with Lucie Rose emerged in 2016. Rose was a friend of his daughter Jemma.
His ex-wife later revealed how the affair ‘devastated’ her as she recovered from thyroid cancer and also wrecked the lives of their two children.
Julia said the affair ruined the career of her Hollyoaks actress daughter as she spiralled into alcoholism and depression.
Jemma also faced legal action over a string of abusive texts she sent to Lucie Rose before charges were dropped by prosecutors.
