Joey Barton

QPR midfielder, Joey Barton, insists that certain betting markets should be removed from football matches following the match-fixing arrests. Six men, including five footballers have been arrested and bailed until April, following a story that appeared in The Sun on Sunday.

Of course, our man is no stranger to online betting, so when he offers his opinion on the subject you’d expect it to be more informed than most!

Secret video footage captured former Portsmouth player, Sam Sodje, apparently claiming he could arrange cards in exchange for cash.

Barton, who has impressed during the first few months of the Championship season, believes that preventing fans who bet on football from using these markets would reduce the chance of match-fixing.

He told Sky Sports: “Surely the onus has got to be on the football betting companies to take out these stupid betting markets. It’s OK betting on the result. When I was growing up, we all used to love a footy coupon on a Saturday.

“It would have the first goalscorer and it was part and parcel of going to a game. But betting on corners, or throw-ins, or bookings?

“There are legitimate betting markets but, when you’re looking at corners or sending-offs or yellow cards, I think you open up a door to a seedy side of the world which, unfortunately for all of us, is out there. The only way to stop it is by, I think, closing these markets.”