Some uncomfortable news this morning. According to reports, the FA is investigating an Arsenal player over some unusual betting activity around a prop bet that the player would get a yellow card in a Premier League game. The player in question is not being named and fans of all clubs are speculating and joking about who it might be.
The news hit me a bit hard, I have to admit. I’ve taken a stance in the past over this issue. I was blocked by Barry Glendenning on twitter over the Kieran Trippier ban because I felt it was right to ban a player who told his friends to go ahead and place bets on his transfer. He had inside knowledge of the transfer, he shared that knowledge, and his friends benefitted. It was a clear violation of the rules.
And this isn’t the first time this topic has come up in football. There are many famous examples, Matt Le Tissier the most notable, but closer to home David Bentley had a gambling problem and of course Paul Merson has had his life ruined multiple times over by his addiction to gambling.
I am firmly on the side of integrity in the sport. Anyone caught manipulating the game for profit, even if it’s something small like a yellow card in the 94th minute, brings into question the integrity of the entire game and cannot be tolerated.
But I have to admit it feels impossible that an Arsenal player would lower themselves to this level. Arsenal players are incredibly well paid and I can only think of two reasons why an Arsenal player would do something like this. Either they have a very serious addiction which put them in the precarious position where they needed to do something that would jeopardize their career or they are truly stupid and were “having a laugh” with some friends who took advantage of them.
The former (addiction) isn’t impossible but it seems implausible. Addicts are really good at hiding things but we live in an incredibly transparent age. If a first team player at Arsenal had a gambling problem or some other addiction that would put them in the position where they would risk their careers over a prop bet, I feel like that would be impossible to hide. I guess I shouldn’t say impossible. As an alcoholic and someone who has spoken to a lot of addicts, nothing is impossible (except getting one to get help before they hit rock bottom), and I’ve witnessed first hand the lengths non-addicts will go to to pretend that nothing is wrong. So, it’s possible but it feels improbable.
Less impossible is the sort of dimwittery that Trippier got caught up in. Though.. this would be a step beyond what Trippier did. This isn’t merely telling your friends that that a transfer is imminent. This is potentially making something happen after telling your friends. Again, I would like to think that something like this is impossible but then we have examples of footballers doing incredibly stupid things for their friends. Karim Benzema was recently convicted of helping his friends blackmail a former France International teammate over a sex tape. KARIM BENZEMA, one of the most famous and wealthy footballers on the planet conspired with his friends to get a teammate to pay them blackmail money.
Of course we don’t know what happened and I’m speculating here. All of that assumes that the story is true and that an Arsenal player did something wrong. We don’t know that and won’t know that definitively for a while. Personally, while I can imagine scenarios (and have) in which it’s possible for a player to do something like this I can’t believe that one of our players would intentionally get a yellow card to throw a prop bet. Either there’s a coincidence here or there’s another explanation. I’m just not buying it.
One more thing about this. There is a lot of speculation on the “who” in question. I will not be dragged into that and I would appreciate it if the rest of you didn’t do that either. I noticed that some people are already using this story (in which no one is convicted or even publicly accused) as a stick to beat certain players with and I just can’t get down with that. Don’t let your frustration with a player lead you down the path toward this kind of irrational abuse. That’s unseemly, honestly.
Meanwhile, in the Hall of Justice. More information is leaking out about Liverpool’s “false positives” and them getting postponements before the Arsenal match a few weeks back. The Athletic is reporting that the players in question all tested negative but that Liverpool ordered another batch of tests (which was an unusual move) and that those tests all came back positive.
This is an Arsenal blog and I’m not a reporter, nor am I hoping to become a reporter one day (I’d much rather make sandwiches), I also live in the USA where libel laws are very different from the UK, so I have no duty to be fair to Liverpool on this issue. And frankly, something about this whole thing stinks. The odds of this just being a random event are astronomical.
But you know what? I’ll be as fair as I feel like at the moment and say that I’m waiting to see what more information comes out. Right now, it looks like something fishy happened. And if it turns out that something fishy did happen, I expect the FA to punish their favorite team the same way that they would punish any other team.*
Anyway, that’s enough blatant speculation for the day. Arsenal play Cheaterpool in the False Positives Cup today and any result for the Arsenal sees them through to the final and a chance to win another trophy under Mikel Arteta. I have a class to teach today so I won’t be able to watch the match, but I think I can catch the 2nd half. If not, I guess I’ll wait for your reports.
*Lol, yeah right.
It’s not been established that the FA are investigating a specific play, just that the incident involved the booking of an “unnamed” Arsenal player.
Let’s not forget that some game officials have history of betting scandals, including at least one who is currently on the Elite list.
We also need to look (cautiously) at how the so called “calciopoli” scandal in Italy was orchestrated.
As usual, the FA have managed to thow attention on our club (and players) on the eve of an important game. Even that action could have an influence on the outcome of the match, especially if the player concerned feels he’s being investigated for something that probably has nothing to do with him.
So perhaps the FA should investigate itself to see if it has (potentially) interfered in the outcome of a game.
The FA did not need to say, at this stage of virtually no information, that it involved an Arsenal player. I’d argue that they should have shut up cometely until they’d completed their investigations. They did Arsenal FC a disservice with that thoughtless news release.
“…nor am I hoping to become a reporter one day (I’d much rather make sandwiches)”
That’s an excellent life choice, mate.
About the other stuff, we shall see soon enough.
Arteta gave his presser yesterday and stated during the expected questions regarding the postponement of the spuds match that the club has done everything according to the rules etc and that they, The Arsenal, will protect the image and reputation of the club. Then the next day the FA and media launch another attack. Bon chance Mikel!
Jota was sublime. 0-2 flattered us..
Little creation. No service for Saka. Emile and Laca were anonymous. MO and Martinelli the best performers. The City performance feels a long time ago.
Poor game for the new defence (Tomi, White & Ramsdale won’t want to watch that again).
I’ve said it before… it’s not going to happen with Partey. He’s not the £50M mid we’d all hoped for.
Next up Burnley. Need to get back to winning (Since Dec 26th WLLDL).
Feel for Partey. The man probably turned the key to his London front door at mid afternoon at best, after an early flight from Cameroon this morning. He needed sleep; but he got an early shower instead. But needs must, hey?
Liverpool were just better. I’m not going to knock players, manager or tactics. We lost to a good side, we were short in key areas, on to the next one.
I think Arteta had options. Rush Tomi back. Why not play White at RB and Holding CB?
Smith Rowe was very poor by his standards and probably not ready. Why wait so long to add Nketiah?
And loaning AMN out so early in the window?
Plus at some point you have to ask is it our mids or the system stretching them beyond their capabilities? The number of red cards alone is worrying but it has a domino effect and we pay heavily for bans in subsequent games.
Ugh. Liverpool with their best players are still well better than we are at full strength. And the same goes when they are missing several of those players and we’re not at full strength. Arguably we were closer than they were to full strength and they still won pretty comfortably.
We need a true striker of a fairly high level or top 4 is unlikely. I’m not ready to write off Partey on the basis of today when he’s just back from disappointment at AFCON. The bigger problem with him is that he seems to play best with Xhaka next to him, and the problem with that is obvious. We’ve now got a midfield of Lokonga and ? for Burnley. Great.
And on a related note, how far ahead of everyone else are we in the red card table since Arteta took over? Wayyy too far I’d wager. That needs fixing somehow, and it’s not completely a Xhaka problem.
We were gassed. Tomi, ESR, Odegaard, Gabriel, White, everyone looked flat. And they were good, once they go a goal ahead they don’t lose. Playing Pool a goal down is like playing Tetris on the highest setting, they just keep coming at you, an advancing wall of blocks. Fifteen short passes to not even reach the halfway line. No way through except long balls over the top, and Martinelli couldn’t win that match on his own.
Didn’t stick around for the post match, wonder what the reaction was.
I guess this looks like the downturn in form that matches the run of great form between the Everton loss and the Man City game. Thankfully none of the last 3 games has cost us any PL points. We looked very effective in that run of good form but I don’t think we have the firepower to maintain that sort of productivity for more then a few games. We have only scored 2 goals in the last 4 games. I still think over the long term we clearly need a more goal scoring production from CF then Laca can give us and more scoring from our 3 forwards then Laca, Saka and Martinelli are going to be able to give us.
As a gambling addict myself, I hope none of our players is also battling with this. Watching the boys is the only escape I have from my reality and I want it to stay that way. I have lost everything I have and the society I live in don’t even know what gambling addiction is about. I am not trying to sound entitled, but it would be nice if my fellow gunners can help life a fellow gunner from the ground. I have absolutely hit rock bottom and have so many debts breathing down my neck. I am having suicidal thoughts but this life is so beautiful to think of leaving it. I just take each day as it comes and hope my will to live is greater than my will to leave.
Sorry to hear this, and please keep going. There’s always something to live for and there’s always help if you know where to look and how to ask. Where are you? Which country?
Thanks Greg for your kind words. There is no where to look for help me country. My Climes aren’t as kind as the ones you live in. Where I am from, you have to suck it up and face your reality. I am Nigerian but temporarily relocated to Ghana as the debts became overwhelming and now my family back in Nigeria are being dragged from left to right by my debtors. I feel bad that I left them to sink, but it’s either that or I lose my sanity and do something stupid. Needing help is an understatement because I need to be saved. I didn’t even get a happy new years greetings because I had to change phone numbers. I want to keep on going but I don’t know how long. I would love to fix things up but I think I have ruined everything. I don’t know if I would ever be able to face my people back home like I used to before.
I’m very sorry to hear about this situation. Shame is hard. Fixing things is hard. Saying sorry to people you love is very hard.
I’m just a football fan on the internet, so any advice I give may be terrible but I’d say running away probably isn’t a good idea. You have to take responsibility, but at the same time you should remember that you have an illness that is making you do things you don’t want to.
“Addiction is a baffling, cunning, hideous disease that gets hold of you. Gambling addicts think they are bad people, but they’re not, they’re ill people who need to get well. That’s the message I want to get across.” – Paul Merson
https://www.skysports.com/football/story-telling/15205/12499030/paul-merson-my-message-to-gambling-addicts
Thanks Greg, as soon as I get better, I would be happy to go back home. And thanks for the link also, it was a good read.
Excellent quote Greg.
Why don’t you try a change of scene or a change of game than the one you think are good at predicting. Will give enough of a break until you get the confidence to bet in the new game.
Yes, agree it is cold turkey scenario. Might help
I would rather call it quits and patch my life back up. It’s a tough way for me to learn that the bookies always wins.
Hi, I have to jump in here and just say that you probably don’t know this but this is bad advice. You don’t change the addiction out for another object. You just have to quit it all together.
As for you OnceAWengerFan, I found a Gambler’s Anonymous Meeting you might be able to attend in Ghana. It’s in Accra. If you can go, I strongly recommend it. It might seem hopeless but you can recover from where you are.
GHANA (Sunday)
SUNDAY
Accra G.A.-G.A.G.G.
2:00 PM
Ofankor Accra
Veterinary Street, House #28
Accra, Central Region
Ghana
Thanks Tim, I was looking that up as well
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Thanks for the heads up Tim, I will try to pay them a visit. God bless you.
Liverpool were simply better. Xhaka has received 4 yellows in the 90th minute? Apparently it’s the 1 he got at Leeds we won 1 4 in the 90th thats under investigation. Onceawengerfan I’ve been there mate and you can get thru it and we’re all part of the ARSENAL family and this site in particular has brilliant people who will listen and help if they can
Thank you Tony, this is the first time I was admitting I am an addict to anyone. And it’s good to hear kind words from you all instead of condemnations. It’s good not to feel alone, God bless you all.
And as a caveat to LFC returning pos/negs, neg/pos in our 1st match that was postponed. Lfc sent 2nd tests to a lab in Sheffield. The tests were conducted by me dagliesh daughter of kop legend king Kenny himself. Something smells a bit fishy and I ain’t talking about last week’s tuna n mayo sandwich
Ms