In light of the FA statement yesterday, subsequent media coverage both local and national and comments made on social media, the Board would like to make it absolutely clear than in relation to the betting activities of our former manager, Nick Bunyard: -

1) We had no knowledge of his placing bets during his tenure as manager of our club.
2) At no stage of the enquiry have we had any dialogue with the FA regarding this matter and are therefore unaware of how this situation came to light and which of our matches were subject to bets being placed.
3) Our knowledge of these events is based solely on the Frome Town statement in April that he was suspended from all footballing activities pending an FA investigation, the FA statement on the 18th of July that he had pleaded guilty to the charges and that, pending a requested personal hearing, he remained suspended and yesterday’s FA announcement regarding his sentence.

In an article with the local paper yesterday Mr Bunyard stated "The FA have never properly sent to clubs information about how regulations changed and I was never given anything official, that you couldn't bet on a certain standard of non-league football”. This is not true. Before the first competitive game of the 2014/15 season, in the dressing room, Mr Bunyard was given a box full of pamphlets from the FA entitled “Player Essential Guide Step 2-4 2014-15 Season”. He was asked to ensure that he and his assistants were aware of the content and that each registered player received a copy. He was further made aware that this was available as a download from the FA website or by email. A copy of the relevant page is available to download below. As a club we have followed exactly the same practice for 2015/16 with Richard Fey and 2016/17 with Tony Ricketts. In addition for the first time this season anyone can download the information as an App from the Apple Store or Google Play. Obviously we cannot comment on how Frome Town have dealt with this but can confirm they would have received these same pamphlets.

On the 3rd and 4th of August our goalkeeper and registered player, Ed Baldy, received a series of text messages from Mr Bunyard’s phone (copy of extracts available to download below) and which is clearly an illegal approach . We decided to take no action as the player did not take up the invitation and continued to play for Paulton Rovers.

Over the course of the next few weeks we became aware of anecdotal evidence that similar approaches had been made to at least three other Southern League clubs and were also subsequently made aware of another alleged illegal approach to one of our players.

On the 7th of September our club secretary, Andrew Harris, received a call from the FA stating that they had received information (we understand this originated from the Southern League) that Mr Bunyard was still involved with Frome Town FC and that we were in possession of evidence to this effect. We were advised that we could either supply information on a voluntary basis or if we refused, the FA would issue a Compulsory Disclosure Order (CDO) to both the club and individuals within it. If we still refused to cooperate then fines and/or suspensions would be issued. Understandably having done nothing wrong ourselves and with nothing to hide we decided to cooperate on a voluntary basis and provided copies of the texts etc. It was also made clear to us we were not to discuss this until the FA enquiries were completed.

With the abuse the club and individuals within it were receiving on social media we decided we would refuse to make any official witness statement voluntarily. Consequently on the 13th September the FA issued Mr Ricketts with the CDO. The following day Mr Ricketts telephoned Mr Bunyard to explain the position we were in and left him a voicemail and a subsequent text message. Mr Ricketts then received a call from Josh Jeffries (Frome Town manager), stating he had also been called to the FA and that Mr Bunyard did not wish to speak or meet with him to discuss these allegations.

Following further discussions within the club it was agreed Mr Ricketts would not make an official witness statement despite the CDO and whilst we have received nothing formal from the FA we understand the case presented to Mr Bunyard based partly on the text messages was not proven We hope this effectively draws a line under this affair and that Mr Ricketts and PRFC Limited will not now be facing any subsequent misconduct charges.

The club will always be grateful for the on field success that Mr Bunyard, his management team and players brought to the club. However we cannot condone his actions in disregarding FA Laws. Whilst managers and players come and go the club (and its officials) remain and have to operate within the regulations of football’s governing body.

Statement ends.

The Board of Paulton Rovers FC Limited
Andrew Harris (Football Secretary)
Tony Ricketts (Manager)