Burnley Player, Joey Barton banned from football for 18 months over betting offences

Joey Barton has been banned from all football activity for 18 months – a decision he has labelled ‘harsh’ and ‘excessive’ and that ‘effectively forces me into an early retirement’.

It comes after the Burnley player admitted an FA conduct charge in relation to placing over 1,000 bets on football.

The controversial midfielder has also been fined £30,000 and warned as to his future conduct.

The full written reasons for the decision have not yet been disclosed.

Barton quickly responded to the news by releasing a lengthy statement in which he said he was ‘disappointed at the harshness of the sanction’.

‘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,’ it read.

The 34-year-old former Manchester City and Newcastle player added that it ‘effectively forces me into an early retirement from playing football’.

FA statement in full

Joey Barton has been suspended from football and all football activity for 18 months with immediate effect after he admitted an FA misconduct charge in relation to betting.

It was alleged that between 26 March 2006 and 13 May 2016, he placed 1,260 bets on the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of, or occurrence in, football matches or competitions in breach of FA Rule E8.

Following the Independent Regulatory Commission hearing, the Burnley midfielder was also fined £30,000 and warned as to his future conduct.

Written Reasons will follow in due course.

Burnley simply published the FA’s statement on their website and confirmed that Barton will appeal against the level of punishment.

‘I have decided I will be appealing against the length of the ban,’ Barton explained in his statement. ‘I hope that I shall be afforded a fair hearing by an independent Appeal Panel. If I am, we are confident that the sanction will be reduced to a fair one that both reflects the offences as well as the mitigating factors and the fact that there was nothing untoward or suspicious about the bets I made.’

Barton has pointed out that previous bans for betting have not been punished so heavily, suggesting that his chequered history has gone against him.

‘A ban of 18 months is longer than several bans handed to players who played in matches where they bet for their team to lose and – unlike me – were found to have had an ability to influence the games. The only players to be banned for 12 months or longer bet against their own teams and played in the matches in which they placed those bets. Players who did not play in the matches they placed the bets in have never been banned for longer than six months. I feel the ban is excessive in this context.’

Barton has twice been convicted on charges of violence and was sentenced to six months in prison for common assault and affray in 2008. His outspoken character also led to him appearing as a panellist on BBC Question Time.

Barton, who has made 14 Premier League appearances this season, offered further details about the betting offences for which he was punished.

‘Since 2004, on a Betfair account held in my own name, registered at my home address and verified by my own passport, with full transparency, I have placed over 15,000 bets across a whole range of sports. Just over 1,200 were placed on football and subject to the charges against me. The average bet was just over £150, many were for only a few pounds.’

He added: ‘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 team-mates 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.’