Barton: I'll fight ban for betting
JOEY BARTON has vowed to save his career by appealing against an 18-month ban for breaking betting rules.
The Burnley midfielder was suspended, and fined £30,000, for placing 1,260 bets on matches over a 10-year period.
Barton, 34, claims the ban would end his career and has vowed to appeal after being found guilty by an independent commission.
He admits he is addicted to gambling but accused the FA of victimisation. Barton
said: “The decision effectively forces me into an early retirement.
“I accept I broke the rules governing professional footballers, but I do feel the penalty is heavier than it might be for other less controversial players.
“I have fought addiction to gambling and provided the FA with a medical report. I’m disappointed it wasn’t taken into proper consideration.
“If the FA is serious about tackling the culture of gambling, it needs to look at its own dependence on gambling companies rather than blaming players who place a bet.
“I am not alone in football in having a gambling problem. I grew up in an environment where betting was, and still is, part of the culture.”
Barton admits he bet on some matches in which he played but insisted that it was not match-fixing and that his integrity was never in question.
The former Manchester City, Newcastle and QPR star was charged for bets he placed between March 26 2006 and May 13 2016 on a Betfair account in his name.
He claims the average bet was just over £150, and that many were for a few pounds. He released a list of what he described as his “30 most pertinent bets as determined by the FA”.
These included two games, City v Fulham in April 2006 and Stevenage v Newcastle in January 2011. He was in the starting line-up in both games but made a loss on both.
Players in England’s top eight tiers are banned from betting on football. Barton served a one-match ban earlier this season for breaking Scottish FA rules on gambling while at Rangers.
He added: “I accept I got into one more mess because of my own behaviour.
“Just as I had to face up to the need to get help to deal with alcohol abuse, and with anger, so now I need to get help for my issues with gambling, and I will do so.”