Gambler Gosling facing long ban
DAN GOSLING could be hit with a lengthy ban after the Newcastle midfielder admitted to an FA misconduct charge relating to betting rules.
The FA have said the charge concerns ‘ multiple breaches’ and echoes the Andros Townsend case which ended with a four-month ban — t hree of which were suspended — and an £18,000 fine for the Tottenham and England winger.
Town send also had to withdraw from the England Under 21 squad for last year’s European Championship.
In the case of Gosling, the breaches do not relate to matches involving Newcastle or Blackpool, the Championship club where he was on loan earlier this season.
The 24-year-old has requested a personal hearing and will appear before an independent three-man commission on a date yet to be set by the FA. Recent history suggests the governing body take a dim view of f ootball f i gures betting on games.
Gosling’s breach of betting rules relates to Rule E8(b) of the FA’s regulations. It states a player ‘shall not bet, either directly or indirectly’ on matches i nvolving themselves or their team as well as the competition they play in or have played in.
Furthermore, players are prohibited from betting in ‘ any other matter concerning or related to any club participating i n any l eague competition that the participant is participating in or has participated in during that season’.
Townsend was punished last June for his breach of FA betting rules, and striker Cameron Jerome — then at Stoke, now at Crystal Palace — received a £50,000 fine last August for the same offence.
In the same month, Accrington Stanley managing director Robert Heys was suspended from football for 21 months, and fined £1,000, after admitting 735 breaches of FA betting rules.
Gosling has now returned to Newcastle from Blackpool where he was a regular during the three months he spent at the club.
He has made just three substitute appearances since returning to St James’ Park at the start of January.