Dean Brett sacked by Cowdenbeath for betting against his own team
Friday 24 February 2017 19:49, UK
Scottish League Two side Cowdenbeath have sacked midfielder Dean Brett after he was found to have bet against his own team.
The 24-year-old has admitted breaching Scottish FA rules which prevent players from betting on any games.
Brett placed 2,787 bets covering 6,369 fixtures, of which 65 included his own team. Eight of the bets were against Cowdenbeath, with the player starting in five of those matches.
A statement from the fourth-tier side said: "With a very heavy heart indeed, the board concluded this was an act of gross misconduct which could warrant no other sanction but dismissal.
"A player betting on his own team to lose, often in matches in which he was playing, is not a situation Cowdenbeath FC could accept or excuse.
"The board's duty was clear. Simply put, no Cowdenbeath FC player committing such an act could remain in the employ of the club.
"The board of Cowdenbeath FC has conveyed to Dean its decision is that he is dismissed and his employment has been terminated without notice.
"We believe this decision to be one that any reasonable employer would make and that it is both fair and reasonable in the circumstances."
Brett was banned for four matches by the Scottish FA on Thursday, with another four suspended, after he made homophobic comments on Twitter.
It was during their investigations into that the SFA found posts which suggested he had been betting on games.
One of the bets was on the correct score of a match in which he had backed Cowdenbeath to lose.
He is also known to have bet on them to lose in a meeting with Rangers where they were beaten 5-1, with Brett scoring the Fife club's goal. It is not known if those matches were the same game.
Cowdenbeath have offered to pay Brett until the end of the season on the proviso he seeks help for gambling and deletes his social media accounts.
Brett lost one of his twin daughters in 2014 then his partner to cancer a few months later and admitted to a newspaper this week the circumstances left him not caring about life.
He is yet to be disciplined by the SFA for the gambling offences but had been previously suspended by his club before being found guilty of gross misconduct.
Brett's employment will formally end on Saturday and he has the right to appeal against his dismissal.
