FOOTBALLERS have always bet on matches and they always will but I don’t think it is any worse now than it was in my day.

Going back to the 70s, a lot of our lads bet on horses and bet on football and that was just part and parcel of it. Players then liked a drink and they liked a bet.

I don’t think it has changed all that much but the difference now is that players are being caught and dealt with by the authorities.

Annan Athletic chairman Henry McClelland was this week charged by the Scottish FA for allegedly placing 4,011 football bets, including 430 involving his own club.

Lewis Horner of Inverness Caley Thistle has also been charged with allegedly placing 353 football bets, including three accumulators involving his side.

They are the latest football figures –we have already seen the cases involving the likes of Ian Black, Michael Moffat, Steve Simonsen and Steven Lawless here - to be brought to task under the gambling rules that are in place.

Joey Barton was also hauled to Hampden for placing bets during his time with Rangers but it was the 18 month ban he got from the FA that really hit the headlines.

Footballers always have had a bet and many still do. How many of them do it in their dad’s name or their wife’s name rather than their own?

There are players today that are still brazen enough to walk into a bookies and place a bet or do it online or over the phone in their own name. You will get found out.

You are going to be caught and you will miss games. You will get fined by your club, you will miss out on win bonuses and you will have this on your record.

But It obviously still goes on and there are players, managers and directors that put wagers on football. Previously we have never had a problem with that but now it is being clamped down on. I can understand why.

If you are betting on a match involving your own team, that can open you up to all sorts. That is wrong.

It leaves you open to questions about what you know about a player or a team. Players or managers might know who is injured or how a team will line up and that information could be used for their own gain.

People will look at that as inside information and people will be asking ‘what did he know?’

If that is the case then the authorities have to take a very strong view on that. You shouldn’t be allowed to bet on any game in Scotland, and perhaps you can take that further so that you can’t bet on any game in Britain.

You can’t have people betting on matches involving their team, and certainly not against their own team. But I don’t see the problem with betting on matches in another country.

The SFA want to clean up the game when it comes to betting and the punishments have to fit the crimes.

I know the SFA want to cut it out completely but I don’t think that will ever happen. If people want to bet on football, they will bet on football.

I think the ban handed out to Joey Barton is a scandal and he is right to appeal it and it could be reduced.

Being banned for 18 months is far too much and the punishments have to be right. I think 18 months is way over the top.

But something like six games for the first time and then it is doubled every time. If you get caught a second time, you know what the punishment will be.

The SFA should let everyone know what the punishments will be and then everyone can be in no doubt about what will happen to them if they are caught.

The other thing that has to be taken into account here is whether people in the game have a problem with gambling.

That is a different aspect to this and an issue that they need to get the right help with.

We don’t want to see anyone, football player or not, blowing money that they can’t afford on bets. Gambling addiction is a massive problem and it is one that has to be taken seriously in this country.

If you have a family that you have to support and take care of, you can’t be gambling your wages away every day.

A number of people in the game have spoken about the issues they and their families have faced and good on them speaking out and raising awareness.

I am sure Fraser Wishart and the PFA will do everything that they can to help people in the game if someone phones up and says ‘I have a problem here, can you help me?’

There are players out there who are addicted to gambling and they have a problem. They are not betting once every month on football, they are doing it every day.

If you have a problem, then there should be avenues open to you to get help and hopefully they find the right support when they need it most.