On Saturday

Football can be a shady business and players with spare time and money on their hands can easily risk becoming ensnared in racking up debts both to online bookmakers and to more shadowy figures in the criminal underworld.

The game has to be seen to be above board. Just as athletics and cycling are fighting to maintain public respect and trust amid doping allegations, the dangers of football being mired in dodgy dealings through gambling are very real.

Arguments rage as to whether gambling is a disease or an inability to control the impulse to bet. Both amount to the same thing from where I’m sitting. Players need to be educated on the risks and the rules. Maybe the call for an amnesty would allow breath to be drawn for a fresh start for football’s gamblers.

Picture: SNS. Ryan Gauld will be top of many clubs’ shopping lists this summer.