FA are just picking on me, says Barton
BETTING BAN IS BECAUSE OF STAR’S ‘OUTSPOKEN PAST’
EX-NEWCASTLE midfielder Joey Barton has defended himself for betting in a Magpies’ match he played in – as he rails against the Football Association’s decision to ban him for 18 months for betting offences.
Barton is due to appeal the ban on July 20 but in an outspoken interview he has accused the FA of picking on him because he has been outspoken in the past – and of hypocrisy over their sponsorship tie-ins with bookmakers.
Barton was banned for breaching FA rule E8, making 1,260 football bets in 12 years – and laying two bets on games he actually played in.
One of those two was for Newcastle – a humiliating defeat against Stevenage in the FA Cup – but he says he did not think it made any difference to his performance.
Barton said: “I did not play any different, if I won or lost financially it made no difference.
“I stopped because I felt I was jinxing myself.”
It is an interesting case which has laid bare football’s attitude to betting.
The midfielder accepts he is a gambling addict and has revealed he has attended Gambler’s Anonymous meetings.
Barton faces the prospect of missing out the whole of next season after being freed by Burnley. He says that he may use the break to write children’s books – and he has also revealed he may go on the BBC’s Question Time again soon.
Although he wants to return to the game, he admits he does not have much faith in the appeals system. Barton added: “Eighteen months? I thought six, eight at a push.
“It is a six-month ban going by other cases but I suppose everyone else is not me. “So, Luis Suarez racially insults Patrice Evra. He bites a player. John Terry abuses Anton Ferdinand. Eight and 10 games for Suarez. Four for Terry. That is 22 games total. “For Cantona’s kung-fu kick it is nine months, say 48 games.
“I am getting all that in one hit. I have basically kung-fu-ed a fan, racially abused two players and bitten another in one go — and more — in FA eyes. For doing a football coupon. Write about that!” Barton actually posted all of his bets, including those he made on Newcastle where he was at the club. wantedHe everyonesaid: “I to see them. If I was matchfixing they would have banned me for life - and if you fix you should not be allowed to play again, you have cheated. My view is the same on performanceenhancing drugs but I have had a footy coupon. OK, a lot of them, but a footy coupon every week. “The betting company said they had no suspicions, not one bet was untoward. The FA accepted that.” Barton says there is a huge problem with betting in professional football dressing rooms.
Although his bets were on relatively small amounts, he says he has played in dressing rooms where the amounts betted were “scary.”
“I was an outlier on volume (of bets) but there will be outliers on wagers staked.
“I have been in dressing rooms with players where they have a hundred grand staked on mad stuff. On one bet. Scary.
“I have seen players who have played in World Cups go out on the pitch and not get anywhere near as much of a buzz from that, or scoring goals, as from betting on the horses.”
A new version of Joey Barton’s autobiography ‘No Nonsense’ is out on June 29 with two new chapters.
Eighteen months? It’s a six-month ban going by other cases, but I suppose everyone else isn’t me Joey Barton