Former England and "Man Utd" defender Paul Scholes received unpleasant news. The 44-year-old man has been accused of violating FA rules regarding involvement in gambling. It is alleged that from August 17, 2015, to January 12, 2019, he placed 140 bets on football matches and now must pay a fine of 8,000 pounds sterling. "I want to apologize - I completely agree with the punishment imposed by the FA. It was my mistake, but I did not intend to deliberately violate the rules. I wrongly believed that if there was no direct connection between me and the events on which I placed bets, the rules would not be violated. Now I understand that I should have clarified this earlier," confessed the repentant P. Scholes. The Englishman owns 10% of the shares of the "League Two" team "Salford City", whose owners also include Gary and Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs, and Nicky Butt. According to the FA reports, P. Scholes bet on "Man Utd" team events when the team was managed by R. Giggs, speculated on "Valencia" results when G. Neville was the team's coach, and placed bets in the FA Cup, although after "Salford City" had finished their appearance in the tournament. During this period, P. Scholes placed a total of over 26,000 pounds sterling in bets and earned nearly 6,000 pounds sterling in profit.
