In the echoing halls of English soccer, there are few entities held in higher regard than the Football Association (FA), a governing body that lately held no hesitation in wielding its muscular authority, delivering a 12-month ban to a once lauded Manchester City analyst for what they have termed ‘betting with insider information’. The analyst, Richard Bredice, a 33-year-old sports strategist, has fired back, stating that his victories were born not from confidential information, but from a profound understanding of the sport and simple gut instinct.
For the past six years, Bredice’s association with the beautiful game was firmly entwined with Manchester City. More recently, he traded allegiances, spending time with Belgian side Anderlecht under the guidance of former City luminary, Vincent Kompany, before becoming the helm of the performance analysis team at Burnley.
Yet, despite Bredice’s firm denial of any underhanded dealings, the curtain dropped on his tenure at Burnley following this incident, with the club affirming that after ‘being reminded of his responsibilities’, Bredice was no longer part of the team.
Of the 456 bets Bredice admitted to placing, a surprising number were wagered during his six-year sojourn with Manchester City, with a sizeable proportion betting on his own team to lose. Piquing the interest of the FA was Bredice’s focus on the ebb and flow of the transfer market. Of his total bets, 12 stood out—bets that involved the shifting of players to and from City, and which the FA deems were placed with insider knowledge.
The castigation from the FA didn’t stop at the exclusionary ban. Aggregating his transgressions, Bredice was fined a hefty £4.5K for breaching FA betting rules. A series of stringent regulations implemented in 2014, known as Rule E8, forbid individuals connected to the sport from betting on games worldwide, or from trading in privileged information for wagering purposes.
The analysts’ betting patterns revealed more than a casual interest in the game; the stakes he wagered significantly multiplied when compared to his average bet of £20.43 on matches suspected of bearing insider knowledge. Success wasn’t far behind; Bredice’s victorious run catapulted from 29% to an eyebrow-raising 92%.
While representing a scant 2.6% of Bredice’s total betting activities, those suspect 12 represented a sizable 20% of the total amount wagered.
In one standout instance, Bredice bet a staggering £515 that a then-unnamed player would don the Manchester City jersey. Upon noting that this wager was placed the morning after a staff party, the FA raised its eyebrows. The conclusion drawn was that the likelihood of insider information being exchanged at this revelry was high.
Zooming out of the football pitch, the national spotlight has been drawn to insider betting with recent investigations by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) into several senior Conservative Party officials suspected of profiting from insider knowledge concerning the timing of the recent general election. This revelation shook the nation’s already skittish political landscape, contributing to the July 4 defeat of the Conservative Party at the hands of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.
