Ex-Shrewsbury striker Ryan Bowman's misdemeanours laid out for all to see
Ryan Bowman’s misdemeanours were laid bare for all to see yesterday after his betting breaches were revealed.
The former Shrewsbury Town striker admitted to 6,397 offences of betting on football, a large proportion of which were during his time at the Croud Meadow, and he is banned from football for 42 months.
All footballers are warned that betting on the sport is strictly prohibited, with severe consequences for anyone not adhering to those rules, to which Bowman has found out the hard way.
To make matters worse, he was betting on his Shrewsbury Town team to lose while he was being paid by the club.
He even managed to put a bet on during a game when they were playing MK Dons back in January 2023, a clash he came off the bench, and Steve Cotterill’s Salop went on to win 1-0.
In the FA’s written reasons for Bowman’s punishment, a document revealed he had at first tried to conceal his misconduct until he was confronted with a ‘fait accompli’ - only at that stage did the 33-year-old accept any wrongdoing.
Before he was given his 42-month ban, mitigation was taken into consideration. An independent commission said Bowman, in the end, admitted all charges and made a loss overall from the bets that he placed.
The striker had spent more than £200,000 over a 10-year period, but in the end, he had a net loss of more than £20,000. One of the stakes of his bets was more than £2,000 alone.
The statement said Bowman had expressed remorse and apologised to the FA for his actions while having no previous record.
The initial ban was four years, but that was reduced to three and a half when the mitigation was applied.
