Written by Training Ground Guru — May 31, 2024
Reading Head of Football Operations Mark Bowen has been charged with misconduct by the Football Association for breaching betting rules.
The 60-year-old allegedly placed 95 bets on football matches unrelated to the club between April 19th 2022 and January 14th 2024. He now has until next Friday (June 7th) to respond to the governing body.
Bowen returned to Reading in May 2022 to take up his current role as Head of Football Operations. The club managed to stay in League One this season despite financial problems off the field which resulted in points deductions for players and staff being paid late.
The 60-year-old was previously a player for the Royals for a short spell in December 1999 and went on to become their Technical Consultant, Sporting Director and then first-team manager from October 2019 to August 2020.
Reading manager Ruben Selles was our guest on Episode #60 of the TGG Podcast, which you can listen to below.
He said: “Unfortunately, I cannot control the things around (the team). It’s been a lot of surprises for us, in terms of transferring players or the points deduction. Unfortunately – or fortunately – I think we’ve learnt how to go with those things and learn how to manage things, almost hour by hour, day by day.”