Guardiola's former assistant suspended from football for a year for violating betting rules

Former assistant to Pep Guardiola, Richard Breads, has been found guilty in a betting rule violation case and banned from football for 12 months.

As reported by the Daily Mail, the specialist lost his job as an analyst at Burnley due to a decision made by an independent commission regarding the betting issue. Most of Breads' 456 bets were placed during his time with Manchester City. He left City in 2019 and joined Burnley, then managed by Vincent Kompany.

He placed 12 bets on player transfers, which constituted insider information. One bet, amounting to £515, was placed the morning after a staff party where the future of an unnamed player was discussed.

Eleven out of 12 insider bets were successful, and 129 out of 444 non-transfer-related bets were profitable. He also placed bets on Manchester City matches. In 2017, Richard Breads successfully bet on Shakhtar defeating City and also bet on Chelsea winning against City in an FA Cup match, which ended 5-1 in favor of Chelsea.

Richard Breads has been disqualified for 12 months, fined £4,500, and ordered to pay £500 in legal costs. He has the right to appeal this decision.

It's worth noting that the Football Association of England has accused West Ham midfielder Lucas Paquetá of attempting to deliberately receive yellow cards on four occasions, allegedly linked to betting on these cautions.