The Football Association has charged Liverpool benchwarmer, Daniel Sturridge, with misconduct after allegations that he breached their betting rules in January 2018.
30-yard stunner against Chelsea aside, it’s been a long time since the name of Daniel Sturridge lit up the news feeds.
Until this morning.
The man who seems to spend more time sitting on his derrière than Jon Brower Minnoch used to, has found himself at the centre of a Football Association (FA) investigation centred on betting irregularities, and that’s odd, given that a Liverpool spokesperson told the press that Sturridge has ‘never gambled on football.’
The word hit my smoke-infested rathole of a Starbucks thanks to a short and sweet notice painted on FA.com.
In the piece, it stated that Sturridge ‘has been charged with misconduct in relation to alleged breaches of the FA’s Betting Rules.’
The rules in question are as follows:
• Rule E8(1)(a) – a participant shall not bet, either directly or indirectly, or instruct, permit, cause or enable any person to bet on – (i) the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of, or occurrence in or in connection with, a football match or competition; or (ii) any other matter concerning or related to football anywhere in the world, including, for example and without limitation, the transfer of players, employment of managers, team selection or disciplinary matters.
• Rule E8(1)(b) – where a participant provides to any other person any information relating to football which the participant has obtained by virtue of his or her position within the game and which is not publicly available at that time, the participant shall be in breach of this Rule where any of that information is used by that other person for, or in relation to, betting.
Sturridge has until 6 pm Tuesday 20 November to respond.
The period of investigation is an interesting one because it centres around January 2018, a point in Sturridge’s career when he joined West Brom on loan. It wasn’t his most distinguished period. Injury meant he only appeared six times for the club, failed to score a single goal, and the Baggies ended up dropping out of the top flight.
The tabloids are theorising that Sturridge may be in trouble for providing insider information.
We shall wait and see.
The 29-year-old joined Liverpool from Chelsea for an undisclosed sum thought to be around £12m. After spending most of the time on the bench at previous clubs Chelsea and Man City, Sturridge hit the ground running, forming a formidable partnership with Luis Suarez that saw Sturridge hit the back of the net 21-times in his first season with the Reds.
When Suarez left, the goals dried up for Sturridge, and he is now a bit part player at the club, with Jürgen Klopp preferring Sadio Mané, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.
If found guilty, the punishment could vary wildly.
The FA found Joey Barton guilty of placing over a thousand bets across a decade and banned him for 18-months in 2017. Barton went on to say that over half of the players are breaking FA betting rules. The FA found Martin Demichelis guilty of betting on close to 30-matches while playing for Man City, and he received a £22,000 fine.
