The FA has banned four footballers for between four months and a year after they were found guilty of betting on a match involving their clubs, reports The Times. An FA regulatory commission expressed "serious concerns" that a Football League match may have been fixed after Jay Harris, David Mannix, Robert Williams and Andrew Mangan were suspended and fined after betting on the outcome of the League Two match between Accrington Stanley and Bury on May 3, 2008.

Harris has been banned for a year and fined a total of £5,500, Mannix has been given a ten-month ban and fined £4,000, and Williams suspended for eight months and fined £3,500. Mangan, who played for Bury at the time, has been banned for five months and fined £2,000 for betting on his team to win.

Nicholas Stewart QC, chairman of the regulatory commission, said: "We have serious concerns that the outcome of the match may have been fixed although none of the players were charged with these offences."

The FA were alerted after bookmakers in the North West reported unusual betting patterns in the lead-up to the match with unusually high amounts being staked in particular areas of the country.