The Leeds United youngster is forbiden from engaging in any football activity until October 10.
Leeds United fans are furious over the punishment that the Football Association handed down to Jordan Stevens on Tuesday.
The 19-year-old midfielder has been given a six-week ban from all football activity – including training with his team-mates, playing matches and interacting with club staff – for breaching rules against betting on matches.
Stevens, who joined Leeds 18 months ago, admitted to placing five bets on Marcelo Bielsa’s side last season and 59 football-related wagers overall.
Rob Price, head of performance and medicine at Thorp Arch, said in his witness statement that problems with ‘boredom, homesickness and anxiety’ had resulted in the teenager struggling to ‘integrate himself’ at the club since joining from Forest Green.
And suffice to say that Leeds fans on Twitter feel that such a punishment is excessive to say the least.
Leeds’ chief executive Angus Kinnear later released a statement via the club’s official website, revealing that he was ‘hugely disappointed’ with the sanction, calling it a ‘disproportionate punishment’ relative to the offence.
Stevens, who was also fined £1,200, will return to training on October 10.
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