English League One team Tranmere Rovers will be without manager Ronnie Moore for the foreseeable future after the 61-year old skipper was suspended over suspicions of breaching the English Football Association’s betting rules.
The announcement of Moore’s suspension was done through a statement issued by the team in which the club decided to suspend Moore indefinitely, or at least until the FA’s investigation was completed.
The club will remain tight-lipped about the investigation until it is concluded, opting only to say that assistant manager John McMahon would be tasked to temporarily take charge of steering the team in Moore’s absence.
Moore’s suspension was meted down after the manager was questioned by the FA late last week on claims that he had bet on matches his side was involved in. Now, it’s not clear if Moore bet on his own team to win or he bet on the other team, which would be a far more egregious offense that definitely warrants him getting sent home. But if it’s the former, we don’t see any reason why he should be out for too long.
After all, this is the same scenario Ayr United striker Michael Moffat found himself in. He initially got suspended for six matches but was ultimately dropped to four games after the Scottish FA got their bearings and determined that, technically, if you bet on your own team to win, you’re not trying to fix the outcome of those matches.
In the meantime, the Rovers will have to make do without Moore for the time being, a daunting task in it of itself considering the team is just two points out of the relegation zone and are entering a difficult stretch of games that could see its standing on the league table plummet before Moore’s return – whenever that is.
