quote:

The governing body charged Heys at the start of the month and he admitted to 735 breaches of their betting rules at a hearing last Thursday.

Stanley's managing director, who was also fined £1,000, intends to appeal against the punishment.

Heys, who has been with Stanley for more than 10 years, posted a lengthy statement on his website in which he shed light on the charges which had been brought against him.

He revealed that he had made more than 200 bets on games involving his own club, including 37 matches in which he had backed Accrington to lose.

Heys' statement continued: "Anyone who knows me personally will know that I only ever want a win for my team. This has always been the case and on occasions when I have very occasionally bet against my club over the last 10 years I would always have been very happy to lose the stake and take the result."