The former manager of England’s national football team, Sven-Goran Eriksson, said that he was unaware that his players were involved in the gambling schemes described by Kieron Dyer. Less than a fortnight ago, the ex midfielder revealed that some of the top football players in the English national football team were facing major problem gambling issues.
According to Dyer’s autobiography, gambling has always been a serious problem among English footballers but it was “completely out of control” at the time of Euro 2004 in Portugal. The former midfielder claims that after only a week in Portugal, his losses on gambling amounted to about £46,000, and he boosted them to over £50,000, However, Eriksson, who was the manager of the English national team at the time, said in an interview for the BBC that he was unaware of the problem and that he would have tried to put an end to such reckless gambling if he had known about it at the time.
Almost a decade and a half ago, England reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2004, but then lost to Portugal on penalties after reaching a 2-2 draw. According to Dyer, the performance of the team came as a result of the gambling that was happening at the time. He emphasized on the fact that things got completely out of control in 2004, with some players losing more than £100,000-£150,000.
The claims that England’s performance at the Euro 2004 suffered the negative consequences of the problem gambling behaviour of the teams’ players were denied by Sven-Goran Eriksson. In addition, Eriksson further revealed that he had made attempts to persuade the Football Association (FA) that a full-time psychologists should be appointed in order to help the players deal with some issues at the time. No such appointment was made, but Eriksson left the reasons for that undisclosed.
Gambling Addictions Spread among English Footballers
A few years ago, the local Football Association tightened the regulatory rules for English players in order to prevent them from betting on any gambling activity related to football.
According to Kieron Dyer gambling has become a serious issue in football. At the time such disclosures were made in his autobiography, the former midfielder explained that the amounts of money spent by English footballers on gambling activities have been rising, with larger amounts of money being wagered as years passed by.
Dyer has shared that at the time when Euro 2008 qualifiers were held, betting among English football players rose to huge levels, with them placing their wagers behind closed doors.
Recently, rumours have spread that an increasing number of English football players have been facing problem gambling behaviour and its negative consequences. The former midfielder of Newcastle, Manchester City and Queens Park Rangers FC Joey Barton insisted that about half of the professional football players have violated the gambling laws of The Football Association by making bets on football matches. Barton himself has suffered a ban from football after making a confession that he placed wagers on over 1,250 matches in ten years.
- Author
Daniel Williams
