Shamed out of the UK, Andy Gray and Richard Keys are still talking a good game
Andy Gray and Richard Keys took football coverage to a new level before a fall from grace but the infamous pair are back doing what they do best
In the era of Twitter gaffes and mobile phone cameras, it seems barely a week goes by without a sporting figure shooting themselves in the foot. Few falls from grace, however, have been quite as spectacular as that of Richard Keys and Andy Gray.
As the nucleus of the football coverage on the then newly formed Sky Sports channel in the early 1990s, when it had just secured broadcasting rights to the nascent English Premiership, the pair became household names in the UK.
Gray, formerly a formidable striker for Aston Villa, Everton, Wolves, Rangers and Scotland, was largely responsible for introducing British football fans to the in-depth, forensic play-by-play analysis that is now ubiquitous, and his impassioned commentary of matches - on Sky Sports and Electronic Arts' wildly popular Fifa series of console games - was an inescapable soundtrack for a generation of fans.
Neither of us has anything to hide from, neither of us feels any shame about what others tried to do to us
Keys, meanwhile, was the dependably opinionated studio anchor with a whiff of the Alan Partridge about him, and together they were the lynchpins of Sky's coverage for almost 20 years.
That winning run came to an abrupt end in January 2011 when several video clips were leaked that feature Gray and Keys exchanging off-camera remarks widely deemed to be sexist.
From expressing their incredulity that a woman could be an assistant referee to Keys' sexually charged "did you smash it?" line to former Liverpool and England star Jamie Redknapp, to Gray asking a female co-presenter to tuck a microphone pack down the front of his trousers, the videos saw Gray sacked and Keys resign amid a storm of controversy.
Virtual pariahs for a spell, the pair have since resuscitated their careers with a Sony award-winning show on British radio station Talksport, prominent roles on Qatari satellite TV network Al Jazeera's beIN Sports channel and occasional engagements on the after-dinner speaking circuit.
It's the latter that brings them to Hong Kong, and we meet in Café Gray at the Upper House hotel ahead of their appearance in front of 500 guests at a fundraiser for the Indochina Starfish Foundation at the Hong Kong Football Club the next day.
Just as they do onscreen, the pair share an easy rapport full of well-worn one-liners, often at the other's expense.
Gray, with his warm welcome, striking blue eyes and endless supply of football clichés and corny jokes, has an avuncular likeability, while Keys has a tendency to dominate conversation and a slightly aloof swagger that hints at an unshakeable self-confidence.
Neither objects to discussing their chequered past and there's an unmistakable sense that - like them or loathe them - what you see is what you get.
I think we're in a better place now than ever we were
"Neither of us has anything to hide from, neither of us feels any shame about what others tried to do to us," says Keys when asked about the Sky scandal, which he describes as "a trap".
"All we feel at this point is a huge amount of pride that not only did we refuse to be buried - which I think was the original intention - but we came back stronger.
"I think we're in a better place now than ever we were. The audience we have is huge, the influence we have going forward will match it and it's a wonderful lifestyle we have."
The lifestyle in question is centred around Qatari capital Doha, where they say they are happy to be living and working. Their Friday night football show is broadcast around the region and beyond, and regularly attracts guests of the calibre of Kevin Keegan, Graeme Souness and David Moyes.
Moreover, it gives them a front-row seat from which to watch the preparations for the controversial 2022 World Cup unfold. While many within the game have cast aspersions on the integrity of the bidding process and questioned the sanity of hosting a World Cup in a country where temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius, Keys and Gray are behind their adopted home.
"There are issues, but nobody in Qatar is hiding from them," says Keys. "A country is being built to prepare for a World Cup, and it's the most extraordinary thing to watch. Andy and I have been lucky enough to see the presentation [the Qatari FA] took to Fifa, and if they won it only with that it's understandable. It's mind-blowing."
Keys goes on to emphatically back Fifa's decision to award the tournament to Qatar, says he has seen no evidence of corruption or human rights abuses in the at-present embryonic construction of stadiums, and rubbishes the idea that the tournament should be moved elsewhere, suggesting News International (owners of Sky and the now defunct ) may be a driving force behind such negative stories out of a desire to have the World Cup moved to the US.
There is clearly no love lost between Gray and Keys and their former employers, who the duo firmly believe were complicit in their public shaming.
There is also a reluctance to consider a return to the UK, even if such an avenue were open to them, after the media bashing they have endured there.
They gave me a good kicking that I didn't think I deserved
"If [Al Jazeera] would still like us to do what we're doing, why would I go back to the UK?" says Gray. "They gave me a good kicking that I didn't think I deserved, so I've got no huge desire to run back there and put myself into a situation again like that."
There is one thing that Gray misses, however: commentating live. "My strength was always what I did behind the microphone I feel. I like the studio, and we've grown since our - I was going to say demise - but since our departure from our previous employers I've had to work more as a studio person, and I've enjoyed it. But there's no doubt I miss doing the game."
"That will come," counsels Keys. "That's the next part of the project."
Whatever they achieve, it seems unlikely that the pair will ever be able to fully step out of the shadow of their past, and it's still rare to read mention of their names in the UK press without the words "shamed" or "disgraced" prefixed.
Both have apologised in the past for what Keys described as "prehistoric banter", but in the eyes of the public they have been tarred with the brush of misogyny and it is a mark that few would be able to erase.
Nevertheless, the pair are more than bullish about their future prospects, and Keys is not shy in pointing out that he and Gray laid the foundations for the pundits and broadcasters who have followed them.
"Many, many people are benefiting and drinking from the well we dug," says Keys. "And good luck to them. But I have nothing but pride in what we did, the way that we went about it and the achievements we fulfilled."
Critics might snark that the pair have found their perfect audience, given stereotypical cultural attitudes to women in the Middle East, but it's probably closer to the truth to say that working in Qatar offers them a clean slate and the chance to, if not find redemption, then at least escape the baggage that may forever plague them in the UK.
And in doing so to focus on doing what they've always done best: talk about football.
