Paul Scholes fined for breaching FA betting rules
Paul Scholes has been fined £8,000 by the Football Association after accepting a charge of breaching betting rules.
The former Manchester United midfielder insists he made a “genuine mistake” while co-owner of Salford.
“I accept last week’s ruling. I would like to apologise and I understand and fully accept the fine imposed by the FA,” the ex-England international said in a statement.
“It was a genuine mistake and was not done with any deliberate intention to flout the rules.
“I wrongly believed that as long as there was no personal connection between me and any of the matches that I bet upon then there would be no issue.
“However, I understand now that this is not the case and I should have taken steps to verify this at the time.”
Scholes was charged by the FA in April for placing 140 bets on matches between August 2015 and January this year.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
He had quit as a Salford director two months earlier – albeit retaining his 10 per cent shareholding – in order to take over as manager of League Two club Oldham, where he lasted just 31 days before walking out.
FourFourTwo was launched in 1994 on the back of a World Cup that England hadn’t even qualified for. It was an act of madness… but it somehow worked out. Our mission is to offer our intelligent, international audience access to the game’s biggest names, insightful analysis... and a bit of a giggle. We unashamedly love this game and we hope that our coverage reflects that.