I've had since preseason, Burnley, Sunderland and Burton to be relegated and Newcastle and Sheff United to be promoted. doesn't look like Burnley or Burton will be relegated unfortunately.
I know his statement was just a self-serving plea for leniency, but it was still refreshing to hear someone actually confront the issue of the power wielded by the gambling industry in modern day sport and the hypocrisy of the likes of the FA. Some of the old fogies on here might remember the government anti-gambling campaigns of the 70s/ 80s with the slogan 'Gambling wrecks families' (or similar). What would today's slogan be?
It's harsh. He's also spot on about the betting industry. Especially around football. It feels like an uncontrollable monster at times. Sad that, especially for younguns who don't realise, that gambling accounts can make stuff like getting a mortgage a lot harder.
There's so much stupidity on all parts here that I'm not sure where to start. Jb opened a betting account in his own name from his home address and used it to place bets on football - in breach of football rules - for years and years - including games he played in - and betting for his own team to lose -and appeals the length of the ban. The betting industry and the fa presumably do not share information to flag this up, despite the bad publicity for both parties that this causes. The fa, knowing that Jb has broken gambling rules and has admitted a gambling addiction, allow him to continue playing, rather than suspending him pending the outcome. And Jb bet on samaras to score first in a game....unbelievable. I could go on.
I'm not as impressed as some by his point about gambling in football. It's not hypocritical of the FA at all. Whether gambling should be allowed to promote itself around football is up for debate, but I don't see anything wrong with them preventing players from gambling while the promotion of it is allowed. The message isn't that gambling is bad (again, up for debate that perhaps it should be, but that's beside the point of whether they're guilty of hypocrisy) it's that players gambling on their own sport isn't appropriate.
The key points are: I accept that I broke the rules governing professional footballers.... So he accepts his punishment, but goes on to make a whole set of silly excuses: I am not alone in football in having a problem with gambling. I grew up in an environment where betting was and still is part of the culture.... Doesn't make it right does it? He goes on to say: That all means this is not an easy environment in which to try to stop gambling, Its like any other addiction..ie smoking or drinking...You need willpower to stop it...Something he doesn't have enough of to want to stop..Then this killer.... Second, on the few occasions where I placed a bet on my own team to lose, I was not involved in the match day squad for any of those games. I did not play. I was not even on the bench. I had no more ability to influence the outcome Absolute rubbish. Of course he had influence on his team mates.. IMHO they should have banned him indefinitely.... Hopefully we 'll never see him again on a football field, playing professional football or even semi professional...Waster..
I've got an account with every bookies going and I never had any trouble It can't just be me that feels this punishment is unjust, excessive and harsh? Jake Livermore sniffs a load of coke and misses a few games. Joey Barton spends money with FA, Premier League and their respective clubs partners (not match fixing, just ordinary betting) on games he's got nothing to do with, and gets 18 months. #FALogic
He makes some good points with regards to the responsibility of the FA and football in general with their attitude towards betting. Gambling addiction ruins lives and its now impossible to watch a live game of football without seeing dozens of advertisements for betting companies, even the football league itself is sponsored by a gambling company.
Maybe, but it's not relevant to his ban I don't think. He always has something unrelated to deflect his problems onto.
Sorry. I heard his statement read out on the radio and assumed from his words that he hasn't bet on games he was involved in. Please forgive me.
"Please gamble responsibly" spoken so quickly it sounds like gobbledegook and the text on screen so small even an raf pilot would need a pair of binoculars. Personally I have no problem with the advertisement and fun natured galmourous nature of them. The overwhelming majority I would reckon do gamble responsibly with a weekend accumulator and a few quid on goal scorers or whatever in games they're watching. Gambling addiction isn't an addiction like heroin, it just needs a bit of common sense and the ability to acknowledge when you've lost. These people who suffer from gambling problems I'm certain would just find other ways to lose all their money if it wasn't for bookies.
Gambling addiction is a real addiction in the same way a number of things are. The same areas of the brain triggered by drug or alcohol addiction are also triggered by other addictions, so to dismiss it as not real and something that people should just use common sense over is taking things a bit lightly.
