Barton gets an 18-month suspension
JOEY BARTON has been suspended from football for 18 months after he admitted a Football Association misconduct charge relating to betting on matches. The former Rangers midfielder previously had a one-match ban imposed by the Scottish FA for lesser betting offences committed while playing in
Scotland. But the punishment imposed yesterday was swingeing in comparison, with the 34-year-old Burnley midfielder also hit with a £30,000 fine after admitting placing 1,260 bets on matches between March 2006 and May 2016. Barton has vowed to appeal the penalty but
Sportsmail understands that if he was to seek a move abroad, the FA would ask FIFA to enforce a global ban. Sources close to the Liverpudlian have told
Sportsmail he is now thinking about a career beyond football. Barton, who joined Sean Dyche’s side in January after an acrimonious split from Rangers, placed bets on matches featuring clubs he was employed by, although he did not bet against his team while in the match-day squad. In a statement, the selfconfessed gambling addict said he was ‘very disappointed at the harshness of the sanction’. ‘The decision effectively forces me into an early retirement from playing football,’ he stated. ‘I accept that I broke the rules governing professional footballers, but I do feel the penalty is heavier than it might be for other less controversial players. ‘One thing I can state with absolute certainty — I have never placed a bet against my own team when in a position to influence the game and I am pleased that in all of the interviews with the FA, and at the hearing, my integrity on that point has never been in question. ‘I could not live with myself, nor face my teammates or the fans of the clubs I played for, if they seriously thought I would bet on my team to lose a game whose outcome I could influence.’ Barton, who listed a bet of £3 on himself to be first scorer in a match, added: ‘The average bet was just over £150, many were for only a few pounds.’