Shocking: Premier League manager admits he knew players betting on their own game
Oct 1, 2016 at 12:40 PM
The Telegraph’s undercover investigation has caused quite a stir in the past week or so.
Not only has it cost the England manager – Sam Allardyce – his job but the likes of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Massimo Cellino, Eric Black and Tommy Wright have all been caught up in the sting.
And now former Premier League manager Harry Redknapp has been involved.
Redknapp has been filmed revealing that his players had all placed a spread bet on a match they were playing in, which is against Football Association rules.
The Telegraph claims that bookmakers had given Redknapp’s side long odds on this particular match because they believed that he would field a weakened side. However, the former boss played a strong XI and his side went on to win the match – much to the delight of his players who had all placed wagers on themselves to win.
FA rules forbid any players from betting on matches that they’re involved in with managers being expected to report any misconduct.
On the footage, Redknapp jokes about his surprise when he eventually discovered the bets – suggesting that he didn’t know about it at the time of the match.
One of the agents in the clip also claimed that the opposition players were betting on the match for Redknapp’s side to win, although the former Bournemouth, West Ham, Portsmouth, Southampton, Spurs and QPR manager isn’t believed to know anything about this.
When The Telegraph contacted Redknapp to put the allegation to him, he admitted becoming aware of his players betting on the match, but said: “Who gives a s*** about that?”
When he was informed it would have been against FA rules, he replied: “Oh would it? Oh, OK. But not at that time I don’t think it was, was it? They weren’t betting on the other team, they were having a bet on their own team.”
While Redknapp’s admission is certainly surprising, the Telegraph doesn’t believe there is any criminality on Redknapp’s part.