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Burnley midfielder Joey Barton has been banned from football for 18 months after admitting a Football Association charge in relation to betting.
The 34-year-old has been fined £30,000 and warned about his future conduct.
Barton plans to appeal against the length of the suspension.
countriesajokeffsQuote:
Originally Posted by stan butler
18 months :yikes:
Placing 1260 bets over a 10 year period.
Hard to have much sympathy given his previous but I agree with him here 100%.Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Morris
"I accept I broke the rules governing professional footballers, but I feel the penalty is heavier than it might be for other less controversial players," said Barton.
"I have fought addiction to gambling and provided the FA with a medical report about my problem. I’m disappointed it wasn’t taken into proper consideration.
"If the FA is truly serious about tackling the culture of gambling in football, it needs to look at its own dependence on the gambling companies, their role in football and in sports broadcasting, rather than just blaming the players who place a bet."*
On the face of it this length of ban is utterly ridiculous and will cost Barton millions and probably retire him too.
Can't believe it tbh and suspect maybe there's more info to come on why so long
I think the main bone for the FA was he was betting on his own team to lose, even though he wasn't involved in playing in those games he would have had some sort of info into how the team was doing injury wise or other info that may have improved his chances.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rhiw-Blue
He even bet on himself as a first goal scorer and lost...
Don't see how anyone can have any sympathy for Barton going on his previous track record. But this went on for 10 years. It's not a one off by any means. Think the fine and ban appropriate to say the least. But, there again, he did mention the FA's dependence on gambling campanies their role in football and sports broadcasting. Bet that didn't go down very well with the FA authorities and ultimately will do him no favours either. Sooner the government make the FA clean up its act the better.
He certainly gets some sympathy because addiction is something that many people find hard to accept, to begin with, and even harder to overcome. He's right when he says the game is all about gambling now, half the teams are sponsored by firms and there are constant adverts during games.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rhiw-Blue
However, I think he also needs to weigh up that he's had plenty of time to do something about this. Everyone knows that footballers can't bet on games, certainly not on with their own club. He's done this over his entire career- there must have been times when he's caught himself and known he shouldn't be doing it, and mulled over whether he should get professional help. He will have known that he would be punished if he was caught. But for over a decade he chose not to, and collected many more millions than he will lose out on now.
He should be counting himself lucky that this happened at the end of his career. Instead, if you can bear to read his long statement, he says things like "I should point out that the last of these bets against my own team was six years ago (and in a reserve game), when I was going through a particularly troubled period, and when the FA were not nearly as hard on gambling as they are now."
Couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke. As has been said, Barton has been gambling for years when he knew it was wrong and bases his defence on the fact that his case wasn't as bad as others. He should count his blessings he has earned plenty of money over the years whilst being crooked.
What I do agree with him on is that the FA have double standards and are more than happy to get huge sums of money from the tens of bookies for advertising.
The whole of football is rotten to the core! It does seem that the ones that are being dealt with harshly are cherry picked, no tears from me on this one.
Sorry but 10 bets a month is not a gambling "addiction"
thisQuote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
Maybe not, but he admits making 15,000 bets during that period and has been gambling since as long as he can remember, so it's a bit more than 10 a month. They were just the ones on football that he was charged for.Quote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
The 10 bets a month were only the offending bets. Until very recently footballers were allowed to bet on football, provided it wasn't in their division. He placed a lot more on football than just 10 a month.Quote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
Absolutely, Chopra was heard to say 1,260 bets is pure childs play...........:ayatollah:Quote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
I guess I'm in the significant minority here in that I actually quite like the guy! :hehe:
Straight talker, without doubt but an intelligent guy who won't doth his cap to the establishment and happens (or maybe happened now) to be an excellent footballer with a questionable disciplinary record!!
One of them players who'd be loved by his own fans and despised by the rest
I don't see him as an excellent footballer at all. I see him as a player who is brought in to "do a job" or ruffle a few feathers. Into a side where things aren't going to plan or a manager is under pressure and desperate to change things to save his own skin.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rhiw-Blue
Maybe players aren't pulling their weight and need someone to "influence" them.
I know where you're coming from with your last sentence but for me it doesn't apply in Barton's case. If you believe in Karma, it's definitely at work here.
I have a feeling though in this crazy world we live in that in a few years time he will be paid millions in compensation through some kangaroo court for one misdemenour or another :rolleyes:
Excellent footballer!?!?! Hes spent a fair number years in the Championship and suffered a number of relegations from the Prem.
The guy has a seriously deluded opinion of himself, thinks hes far better than he actually is and is usually found wanting at the top level.
If hes "Excellent" I dont think there are any words to describe the likes of Messi and Ronaldo.
Well said, this statement was littered with self serving gibberish. He makes a semi decent point on football and it's relationship with gambling and possibly if another player was involved then maybe that point would be taken more seriously, but Barton throughout his career has misbehaved and there's always an excuse with him. I recall him getting sent off for QPR on the final day of the season in that famous game when Man City won the title and he blamed his disgraceful behaviour that day on Tevez "punching" him which just plain didn't happen, see below link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...ster-City.htmlQuote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
His statement is excuse after excuse, fair enough if he's genuinely an addict (personally I'd question that as again comes across as a convenient excuse) but regardless you can't bet on football and your own team in particular, if you find yourself doing that then seek help, I am fortunate in that I've never suffered an addiction so perhaps easy for me to say but really he must have known this would be a huge issue when exposed, why he didn't seek help is beyond me.
He says things like this "That all means this is not an easy environment in which to try to stop gambling, or even to encourage people within the sport that betting is wrong. It is like asking a recovering alcoholic to spend all his time in a pub or a brewery." Well it's not really is it, the equivalent would be to ask a recovering gambling addict to spend all his time in a bookies or a casino. I'm sure alcoholics support teams sponsored by alcoholic drinks brands, wear clothing with their brand names on etc, there have been alcoholic footballers and I'm sure they've had the same, what Barton is essentially saying here is that because on occasion he has been playing for teams sponsored by gambling brands he's not able to control himself, honestly come on!
Another line "Second, on the few occasions where I placed a bet on my own team to lose, I was not involved in the match day squad for any of those games.
I did not play. I was not even on the bench. I had no more ability to influence the outcome than had I been betting on darts, snooker, or a cricket match in the West Indies."
How can he possibly claim he has less influence on his own team playing a match than a West Indies cricket match, he will know so much inside information, he may not be able to directly influence the game on the pitch but he'll know about small injuries, personal problems, arguments, issues within the team, essentially it's insider trading and is a form of corruption.
I think 18 months is fair, Barton will continue to moan, make excuses, as he always does but he's been found out for something that cannot be tolerated in the game and as said earlier, couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke. Only down side is that no doubt he'll be in the football media more now which is a real shame as the bloke comes across as an absolute moron.