Ex-midfielder Danns fined for FA betting breaches

Southport boss Neil Danns has been given a suspended six-month ban for past breaches of the Football Association's rules on betting.

Former midfielder Danns, 42, has also been fined £1,000 after admitting placing 65 bets on football matches.

He is currently manager of National League North side Southport, but the offences took place between 17 February 2007 and 13 August 2022 when he was a player.

During that time he played for a number of different sides including Birmingham City, Crystal Palace, Leicester City and Bolton Wanderers.

Since 2014, FA rules state anyone associated with a club in the top eight tiers of English football is banned from betting on any aspect of the sport worldwide.

Of the 65 bets Danns made, 62 were placed before those rules were changed and three afterwards - prior to 2014, participants were only banned from betting on a match or competition in which they were involved or could influence.

Of the pre-2014 bets, mostly or wholly accumulators, two involved selections where Danns' own side could lose and three featured selections on his team to win.

A Football Association Regulatory Commission report said Danns' bets were "modest stakes on a 'Saturday accumulator' on a reasonably widespread of games."

The commission added: "There is no suggestion [he] was match fixing, betting with the benefit of any particular inside information or that there was any suspicious activity or betting patterns."

In total, Danns staked £2,137.68, winning £814.43 - a net loss of £1,323.25.

The six-month ban is suspended until the end of the 2025-26 season.

His sanction comes in the same week as Ryan Bowman was banned for three-and-a-half years by the FA for betting on matches he was involved in.

The 33-year-old former Exeter City, Shrewsbury Town and Torquay United forward made 6,397 bets over an eight-year period.