I was banned for ten years for alleged spot-fixing in the FA Cup, Lucas Paqueta should get a 40-year ban if he’s guilty
FORMER non-league star Kynan Isaac called on the FA to smash Lucas Paqueta with a 40-YEAR ban for alleged spot-fixing.
Isaac was banned for ten years in October 2022 after being found guilty by football’s ruling body of deliberately getting himself booked in an FA Cup tie.
It was claimed full-back Isaac’s caution for Stratford Town in a 5-1 loss to Shrewsbury in November 2021 was part of a betting scheme with pals.
West Ham and Brazil midfielder Paqueta, 26, has been charged with deliberately getting himself booked in FOUR separate Prem matches so that he and/or his friends could benefit by betting on that happening. He denies any wrongdoing.
Isaac, 31, said: “It will be very interesting to see what they do to him, there’s no point in me sitting here and letting everyone else get away with it.
“It’s basic maths — if I got done for ten years for doing it once, by the same book he should get 40 years for doing it four times.
“I can’t wait to see what they give him — it will be something pathetic like about a year or two, because he’s got money and an expensive lawyer.
“If that happens they won’t be able to ignore me and the ban they gave me.”
Isaac was also hit with a further 18-month ban after being found guilty of placing, or enabling, almost 350 bets on matches over a five-year period.
The combined rap ensured he could not play until after his 40th birthday.
The FA stopped him from playing immediately after his charges were announced and referred the case to police.
He added: “The police came to my house and told me there was a warrant out for my arrest for X, Y and Z. I had my kids with me, so I asked if I could hand myself in at a certain time.
“I went there the next day at about midday with my lawyer and the police threw it out. I got a ten-year ban, even though they threw it out.
“It will be interesting if they do the same with Paqueta, will he get the police turning up at his door. If not, why not? Why should he be treated any differently to me?
“Also, even though I don’t know the exact details about what bets we’re talking about, it’s bound to be in the thousands. With me it was pennies.”
Isaac — who passed his test to be a driving instructor — was tempted to speak out when Brentford and England star Ivan Toney escaped with an eight-month ban a year ago after admitting 232 breaches of betting rules.
The FA literally stopped me from playing any football, even seven-a-side or Sunday League. No-one worried about my mental health.
He was also angered when Nottingham Forest’s Harry Toffolo was given a suspended five-month ban in September for 375 breaches of betting rules.
Toffolo claimed he made the wagers when his “mental health was at a very low ebb”.
Isaac said: “It was mentally awful for me.
“Non-league footballer gets a ten-year ban and then you see a big-name star Toney — who was putting thousands of pounds on — still being allowed to play when he had been charged and getting an England call-up.
“His ban was really only six months, because it included the off-season. And he’ll be at the Euros.
“The FA literally stopped me from playing any football, even seven-a-side or Sunday League.
“No-one worried about my mental health after getting such a huge ban.
“I was depressed and it hit me hard but nobody from the PFA or FA got in touch to see how I was.”