[choirboy]

Just got back off my holiday on Monday. I have not seen a newspaper, watched the news on a TV or listened to anything on the radio for a while. So when I read news of this on Teletext I was totally dumbfounded and profoundly shocked!!!
I have taken the time to read ALL the responses on this post and once the full details emerged many sensible points and observations have been made, (particularly #170 by Jegred).

There could be a separate discussion about the moral issues regarding betting in general and paricularly betting in football but I will try to leave that broader issue alone in my response here.

Some have expressesed unbelief that a CEO could bet at all when he clearly knows the rules and some posters have commented on Rob being a good bloke and having the RED blood of Stanley in his viens like most of us supporters.
In the early days, long before he was CEO, perhaps he may have been unaware that he should not have been having a small flutter now and then but once he grew into a more senior standing in the club and then as CEO he should have had the strength to simply put a stop to it.
However, in thirteen pages of posts nobody has commented on the true nature of "betting" and the way that it can take a real hold on a persons life. It seems to me that gambling/betting is an addiction, and could be classsified as a kind of sickness, which once allowed into a persons life could be as difficult to break out of as smoking or doing drugs. (Incidentally, I have never done any of these three things so I could be talking very naively and in blissful ignorance.)
I have spoken with Rob on a few occasions, when ordering seson tickets etc in the office, and I too always found him to be a very pleasant chap. I suppose that I am trying to make the point that although he deserves to lose his job, be fined and have some sort of suspension, but also that we should try hard to show some undestanding with Rob about his need to gamble but also show some empathy regarding his family situation now that he is out of a job. I sincerely hope that Rob can sort himself out positively, and whilst he may have succumbed to a weakness, I would also like to thank him for his hard work at Stanley and wish him well for the future.

Now we have to begin again..... after a another disappointing chapter in our history.
Peter Marsden has done exactly the right thing in making an early statement and in calling the supporters to rally again and get 100% behind James Beattie and the team.

ON STANEY ON