I feel for Joey Barton as betting rules are too strict, says Partick Thistle's Stevie Lawless

The Partick Thistle ace was handed a six-match ban, with four games suspended, last season after being caught betting on over 500 games over a three-year period.

While Lawless acknowledges that the law should be followed, he feels that the current rules should be relaxed around players betting on matches outside their own league.

Read more: No nonsense from Barton as new book lays bare his battle with his demons

The current zero tolerance policy forbids players from betting on any football match anywhere in the world.

“I know the position he’s in. It’s obviously not easy, but he’s a big boy and he’ll know what he’s done,” said Lawless.

“You just need to take it on the chin when it happens to you.

Read more: No nonsense from Barton as new book lays bare his battle with his demons

“I do feel for him. I know the position he’s in and I know what he’ll be feeling but he’s dealt with big things in his life before I’m sure. It’s just one of those things.

“You need to learn by other people’s mistakes. Obviously nothing’s happened yet and we don’t know the full ins and outs, but we’ll just need to wait to see if it goes to a hearing.

“It was a flashback to what I was going through,” he added to STV. “It brought back memories.

“I would like to think the message is getting across but people are still getting caught.

“I think I said it when I was going through it as well, I feel the rules are a bit strict. They’re there, and they shouldn’t be getting broken, but it shouldn’t be every game possible.”

“There’s not really much we can do about World Cup games so I don’t think they should be as strict, but as I said, the rule is there.”