Hirst surprised by fixing claims

Claus Lundekvam's former Southampton team-mate David Hirst has insisted the claims that spot-fixing was rife during their time at the club came as a "massive surprise".

Hirst, the former England striker who spent most of his career at Sheffield Wednesday, was with Lundekvam at Southampton in the late 1990s when the Norwegian claims the players made money betting on events such as the first throw-in or corner. But Hirst said if such fixing was taking place, he was completely unaware.

He told Press Association Sport: "It was a massive surprise to me that he came out with something like that. I was never aware of anything taking place like that, not at Southampton or Sheffield Wednesday or Barnsley - or England for that matter. I have never been involved in anything like that and I have never heard of players doing it anywhere."

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