The Judicial Panel investigating Ian Black’s betting history, have handed the 28 year old midfielder a 10 match ban.
He has also been fined £7500.
Three of the game bans will be served immediately, with Black now missing the matches against Arbroath, Queen of the South and Forfar, and the remaining seven games have been suspended until the end of the 2013-14 campaign.
He therefore, can return to action in the game against Stenhousemuir on September 28th.
Speaking to the Official Site after the ban was announced, Ally McCoist said he would have no problem picking Black again as he’s already seen the bets he has made over the past seven years and he doesn’t believe it poses a problem for him moving forward, having had the player disciplined in house as well – the issue is over for the manager.
‘The decision has been made, Ian has been punished and we’ll move on now. I’ve actually seen every one of the bets and I certainly don’t have a problem with Ian Black playing for Rangers again, not at all. I genuinely – rightly or wrongly – don’t have an issue with it.’
Stevie Smith backed up the manager’s words by saying that nobody in the camp doubted his integrity when on the pitch, and he’s been training well despite this rumbling on in the background, and they’ll welcome him back to first team action the next time he’s free for selection.
He also explained that when playing in England, the rules and regulations were made very clear by the PFA in terms of do’s and don’t’s and since moving back to Scotland, he hasn’t heard a peep from anybody in terms of the regulations so he called for them to be made far more clearer than they currently are – pointing out that until this issue came up, he wasn’t even aware you weren’t allowed to bet on games at all as a player.
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