Players told of betting rumours

NEWS: ST PATRICK'S Athletic are to investigate rumours that some of the club's players might have bet on the team to lose recent games.

The news came as squad members were called together last night to be told that a national newspaper was preparing to publish a story regarding rumours of the betting.

Club chief executive Richard Sadlier confirmed last night the meeting had taken place. He said he had arranged it after being contacted several times recently about the story which, he had been told, would appear in the paper today.

"I called them in because I didn't want them just waking up to something like that," he said. "I had the meeting to make them aware of it."

Asked if he believes his players to be innocent of any wrongdoing, Sadlier said: "I would assume and hope that they are, but we can't just ignore something like that, we'll look into it as much as we can.

"I'm disappointed, though, that our club is going to be written about in this context and disappointed, too, that players I presume to be innocent until some evidence to the contrary is uncovered might end up having some sort of cloud hanging over them."

Last night's events follow a miserable run of results for the Dublin club who were considered title contenders at the start of the season. The Inchicore club have lost three of their last four home league games - a run that included defeats by two of the Premier Division's bottom three sides. And they were also well beaten by league champions Bohemians at Richmond Park in an FAI Cup semi-final last month.

After Tuesday night's 1-0 loss to Cork, manager John McDonnell was severely critical of some unnamed players.

With the club failing to make significant advances over last year's performance, there has been some speculation about McDonnell's future, but he was adamant on Tuesday night that he will remain in place.

The news that one of the country's leading clubs is to look into the possibility that some players might have been involved in such activities will come as another blow to a league that has had its share of problems in recent times.

After the major financial problems suffered by high-profile outfits like Cork City and Drogheda United, there were suggestions only last weekend from two of the country's leading bookmaking firms that they had experienced irregular betting patterns on last Friday night's game between Monaghan United and Longford Town.

Longford officials said at the weekend that they would be investigating that matter, while the FAI said they would speak to the firms before deciding how to proceed.