Joey Barton banned for 18 months: Why has he received the suspension, what bets did he place and did he bet against his own team?
Burnley bad boy has received an 18-month ban which he claims will end his career
JOEY BARTON has received a sensational 18-month ban for football after being found guilty of gambling offences.
In a lengthy statement posted , the Burnley bad boy has confirmed he plans to lodge an appeal.
Here is everything you need to know about Barton's ban and the circumstances surrounding it.
Why has Joey Barton been banned for 18 months?
Joey Barton has been banned for 18 months after admitting an FA charge in relation to gambling.
He has also been fined £30,000 and warned about his future conduct.
The Burnley midfielder broke FA rules by placing 1,260 bets on matches between 26 March 2006 and 13 May 2016.
Despite the player's protests, English football's governing body claim they gave him the shortest possible ban under the circumstances.
The FA said: "His [Barton's] addiction may have distorted his thinking in part, but it is not a compete answer for this continued conduct."
They added that "for a single bet placed on a participant's own team to lose", FA guidelines recommend a ban of six months to life.
Barton placed at least 15 bets against his own team.
What bets did Joey Barton place?
Joey Barton has admitted to betting against his own team in a number of matches, and published the 30 bets the FA agreed were most pertinent on his website.
But he added that he has never bet against his own side when he has been either playing or in a position to influence the match.
And the FA panel made clear on a number of occasions that "there was no suggestion [Barton] was involved in match fixing”.
Among the most notable bets against his team were £10 on a 3-0 Newcastle loss against PSV in a friendly.
He also bet £500 on a Chelsea win at St James' Park, which he lost in 2010 after a 1-1 draw.
In a match in which he did play, in 2011, Barton bet £497.50 on a Newcastle victory against Stevenage in the FA Cup, and the Magpies were beaten 3-1 in Hertfordshire.
And interestingly, when he was at Manchester City, the midfielder bet against team-mate Georgios Samaras scoring the first goal in a match against Fulham in 2006.
Barton then took the free kick which resulted in Richard Dunne netting the game's opener.
The former-City star has confirmed that the average bet he placed over the ten-year period was worth just over £150.
During his time at Rangers, he was banned for one match for betting offences north of the border.
What are the FA rules on gambling?
The bets Barton made that will have been of most concern to the FA will be those placed against his own team, which were always illegal, and those placed since 2014.
On August 1 that year, ready for the 2014/15 season, the FA introduced a worldwide football betting ban on all players in the top eight divisions and the Women's Super League.
As well as matches worldwide, players from those divisions are banned from betting on transfers, employment of managers or any other football-related matter.
Players below the top eight divisions are banned from betting on any competition they are involved in.
The FA published the following video in 2014 explaining the new rules.
