Joey Barton's 18 Months Ban Was Lenient - FA Commission

Joey Barton got an 18 months ban from football and the The FA commission has insisted that punishment could be viewed as lenient. Publishing their written reasons for a suspension that Barton and Burnley both feel is "harsh", the commission insist it is sensible and fair to impose a single global sanction to reflect the totality of his misconduct.

The commission confirmed that Barton made 1260 betting infringements on football, including 42 bets on 20 matches involving teams he was registered with, two of which were matches in which he played.

The commission stated that, “for the player's benefit and for that of the wider public, there was no suggestion the player was engaged in match-fixing”.

The report said that he made 15 bets on his own teams to lose but did not take part in any of those matches. However, given that the FA guideline is a minimum suspension of six months per bet on one's own team, the player could have been banned for 90 months.