Four English players banned after betting probe

Four English Football League players have been banned for between five months and a year for betting on the outcome of a League Two match between Accrington and Bury.

Three of the players were with Accrington at the time of the match on May 3, 2008 and the other was at Bury.

Jay Harris has been banned for a year and fined a total of 5,500 pounds 9,000 dollars) by an independent FA regulatory commission, David Mannix has been given a 10-month ban and fined 4,000 pounds (6,547 dollars), and Robert Williams suspended for eight months and fined 3,500 pounds (5,729 dollars).

Andrew Mangan, who was then a Bury player, has been banned for five months and fined 2,000 pounds (3,373 dollars) for betting on his team to win.

The investigation forced disciplinary chiefs to concede that the match may have been fixed, even though none of the players faced that charge.

Nicholas Stewart QC, chairman of the regulatory commission, said in a statement: “The regulatory commission have serious concerns that the outcome of the match may have been fixed although none of the players were charged with these offences.”