Joey Barton suspended for 18 months

Barton is alleged to have placed 1,260 bets on football matches between March 2006 and May 2013, including some on his own team to lose, although he did not play in any of those matches.

The 34-year-old midfielder started his career with Manchester City and has played for Newcastle, QPR, Marseille and Rangers. He also has one full England cap.

In January, he rejoined Burnley after a successful stint with the Premier League club in 2015/16 and has played 13 league games this campaign, scoring once.

A short statement from Burnley said Barton would appeal against the length of the ban.

Confirmation of Barton's intention to appeal against the severity of his punishment came almost immediately in a long statement published on his personal website.

Noting his long ban and £30,000 fine, Barton wrote that he was "very disappointed at the harshness of the sanction", particularly as there was no suggestion of match-fixing.

 JOEY BARTON STATEMENT IN FULL 

He continued: "The decision effectively forces me into an early retirement from playing football.

"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.

"I have fought addiction to gambling and provided the FA with a medical report about my problem. I'm disappointed it wasn't taken into proper consideration."

The Liverpudlian goes on to explain how he grew up in an environment where betting was common and has gambled on sporting events all his life.

Barton has served numerous FA bans for misconduct throughout his career and has also twice been convicted on charges of violence, spending 11 weeks in prison in 2008.

But in recent years he has tried to control his temper and has become one of the game's more thoughtful critics - his near 1,500-word mea culpa to the betting charges is a good example of his more philosophical approach.

Writing that he understands why the FA has rules on betting and acknowledging that he has broken them, Barton poses a difficult question for the football authorities and clubs.

"I think if the FA is truly serious about tackling the culture of gambling in football, it needs to look at its own dependence on the gambling companies, their role in football and in sports broadcasting, rather than just blaming the players who place a bet," he wrote.

"Surely they need to accept there is a huge clash between their rules and the culture that surrounds the modern game, where anyone who watches football on TV or in the stadia is bombarded by marketing, advertising and sponsorship by betting companies, and where much of the coverage now, on Sky for example, is intertwined with the broadcasters' own gambling interests.

"That all means this is not an easy environment in which to try to stop gambling, or even to encourage people within the sport that betting is wrong.

"It is like asking a recovering alcoholic to spend all his time in a pub or a brewery. If the FA is serious about tackling gambling I would urge it to reconsider its own dependence on the gambling industry. I say that knowing that every time I pull on my team's shirt, I am advertising a betting company (Burnley are sponsored by Dafabet)."

On the subject of betting against his own club, he added: "Raised at the hearing was that between 2004 and 2011 I placed a handful of bets on my own team to lose matches.

"I accept of course that this is against the rules, for the obvious reason that a player with an additional financial stake in the game might seek to change the course of it for his own personal gain.

"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 than had I been betting on darts, snooker, or a cricket match in the West Indies.

"I should add that on some of those occasions, my placing of the bet on my own team to lose was an expression of my anger and frustration at not being picked or being unable to play. I understand people will think that is childish and selfish and I cannot disagree with that."

Barton added the last such bet was six years ago "when I was going through a particularly troubled period, and when the FA were not nearly as hard on gambling as they are now".

He concluded: "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."