We’ve heard of players and managers being banned by the Football Association for betting on the outcome of games, but a kitman?
It sounds too surreal to be true, but Ipswich Town kitman James Pullen has been suspended by the FA after placing a whopping 867 bets on football games – 126 of them involving the Tractor Boys.
Pullen has now been sacked by Ipswich in a cautionary tale for any employee of a football club – no matter what their role – that is tempted to use privileged information for betting purposes.
Getting Shirty
Pullen, a former goalkeeper in his playing days before stepping into the kitman role at Portman Road, was employed by Ipswich for the best part of a decade.
But when he wasn’t laying out shirts, shorts, socks and training kit in the dressing room, Pullen was using his privileged position to bet on games involving his club.
It should be said that he didn’t bet on Ipswich to lose in any of the 867 bets that came under the FA’s microscope, but he did back them to draw on three separate occasions – a scenario that did not exactly endear him to investigators. He also backed one unnamed Tractor Boys player to score a hat-trick against Rotherham United in January 2021, which proved unsuccessful.
Pullen, 42, admitted placing the 867 bets between March 2018 and March 2024, which were mostly accumulators. Roughly half featured at least one selection involving competitions that Ipswich were involved in at the time, with 126 featuring the Tractor Boys specifically – the absolute vast majority saw Pullen back Ipswich to win.
So while, perhaps morally, his conscience is clear, the Football Association has clamped down on anyone involved in professional football – be it a player, manager or member of support staff – from having a bet. They cannot wager on the outcome of games or any related market, such as ‘next manager’ or outright competition winner.
The FA has decided to ban Pullen from football for a period of three months, with the punishment suspended until the end of the 2024/25 season. He has also been issued with a £750 fine.
All told, Pullen made a loss of around £600 on the bets, which perhaps explains why he has been treated fairly leniently by the authorities – they concluded that there was ‘nothing suspicious’ about his betting behaviour. He has, however, been released from his contract by Ipswich.
Potter to Weave His Magic for England?
Barely three hours after Gareth Southgate announced that he would be stepping down as England head coach, more than £10,000 had been matched on the exchanges with regards to his successor.
After 102 games and almost eight years in charge, Gareth Southgate has announced he is to leave his role as manager of the #ThreeLions.
— England (@England) July 16, 2024
Graham Potter, the former Brighton boss who was last seen at – and sacked by – Chelsea, was the original frontrunner, and within an hour had been backed into odds of around 13/8. However, he has already lengthened to around 3/1 in places at the time of writing.
Potter is thought to have turned down the chance to manage Ajax and Leicester City since his stint at Stamford Bridge came to a premature end – suggesting that he has his eyes on a bigger prize. His progressive style of football and success with the Seagulls and in Sweden has endeared him to FA chiefs.
According to the Daily Mail, those same FA bosses have drawn up a five-man shortlist of candidates they want to interview – Potter joined by England Under 21s boss Lee Carsley (5/2), Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe (3/1), former Chelsea gaffer Mauricio Pochettino (10/1) and, ahem, another former Chelsea boss in Thomas Tuchel (16/1) are said to be on the radar.
Around 10% of all bets have been placed on former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, who is currently unemployed since leaving Anfield.
The German spoke of a lack of energy towards his time at the Reds, so the FA will need to negotiate well in order to persuade him back into the dugout. He would, you suspect, be a popular appointment with many England supporters.
It’s thought that Carsley will take temporary charge of team affairs if Southgate’s successor has not been appointed by September, when the Three Lions return to action with a Nations League double-header against the Republic of Ireland and Finland.