GOALKEEPER Bruce Grobbelaar told a friend he was going to meet a man representing a Far East group to discuss "fixing" games, Winchester Crown Court heard yesterday.
The claim was made by Mr Chris Vincent, a former business associate of Mr Grobbelaar. Mr Vincent was giving evidence at the trial in which Mr Grobbelaar (39), former Aston Villa striker John Fashanu (34), former Wimbledon goalkeeper Hans Segers (35) and Malaysian businessman - Heng Suan Lim (31) deny conspiracy to give and accept corrupt payments.
Mr Vincent said he and Mr Grobbelaar first met in June 1992 and were soon "incredibly good friends", with Mr Grobbelaar investing thousands of pounds in his companies.
The first time men from the Far East were discussed, the jury was told, Mr Grobbelaar said he had been introduced to people who were prepared to pay him £1,500 to £2,000 a week for predicting the outcome of matches.
Mr Vincent told the jury about a trip to Manchester to meet a man "to discuss getting paid for fixing football games."
Mr Vincent said he had asked how Mr Grobbelaar could actually do it, and the footballer told him he had been Liverpool's goalkeeper for 14 years and that if he was to stand a yard or a foot off his line, nobody would know.
After meeting a man of Far Eastern origin, on the return journey Mr Grobbelaar said he had been given £1,000. Mr Vincent added: "He told me that they were prepared to pay him big bucks to throw football games, somewhere in the region of £40-60,000."
Mr Vincent told the jury that when the match fixing allegations broke in 1994 there were pictures of the man which identified him as Mr Lim.