Chris Maguire: Ex-Lincoln and Sunderland winger banned for FA betting rule breaches
- Published
Chris Maguire's ban has already been served since it was backdated to 22 November 2022
Former Oxford, Sunderland and Lincoln winger Chris Maguire has been banned for six weeks for multiple breaches of Football Association betting rules.
However, the 34-year-old is now free to resume his playing career after the ban was backdated to 22 November 2022.
He was initially fined £750 and warned by an independent regulatory commission for the breach of FA rule E8.
The FA appealed against that verdict, with the outcome being a six-week ban handed to Maguire by the panel.
Maguire's initial charges were for the placing of 52 bets between 17 March 2017 and 12 February 2022, and the charge applied while he was at Lincoln.
This was later reduced to 10 charges, with the player requesting a personal hearing.
Within those charges, he bet on teams he was playing for to win, in Oxford and Lincoln; two for the latter during the 2016-17 season, and four for Lincoln in 2021-22, as well as one as part of an accumulator to win. The other bets within the charges were on unconnected fixtures.
Maguire admitted fully to charge one - three bets placed in 2016-17 including the Oxford games - and charge three - one bet on an unconnected game in 2020-21.
He part-admitted to charge four, which involved six bets, including four on Lincoln, admitting to one on 25 January 2022, but denying further bets 12 February 2022. However, the commission was able to prove that they had been made "to the requisite standard".
The former Scotland international has scored 111 goals in 561 senior games, for clubs including Aberdeen, Sunderland and Oxford.
He had been linked with a move to Hartlepool United, who announced the move, but no binding deal was signed after the Professional Footballers' Association and the English Football League were unable to ratify the proposed contract structure.
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