DISCIPLINARY chiefs have expressed “serious concerns” that a Football League match may have been fixed after four players were banned for between five months and a year for betting on the outcome.

DISCIPLINARY chiefs have expressed “serious concerns” that a Football League match may have been fixed after four players were banned for between five months and a year for betting on the outcome.

And the scandal brings back memories of an Ipswich Town game in 1962 against Sheffield Wednesday, that saw three Wednesday players jailed, after a 2-0 Ipswich Town victory.

Yesterday four players were suspended and fined after betting on the outcome of the League Two match between Accrington and Bury on May 3 2008 - three of the players were with Stanley at the time and the other at Bury, who won the game 2-0.

Jay Harris has been banned for a year and fined a total of �5,500 by an independent FA regulatory commission, David Mannix has been given a 10-month ban and fined �4,000, and Robert Williams suspended for eight months and fined �3,500.

Andrew Mangan, who was then a Bury player, has been banned for five months and fined �2,000 for betting on his team to win.

The four Accrington players were charged with betting thousands of pounds on their team to lose.

Although it is big news, it is nothing compared to the biggest betting scandal in English football history involving a game featuring Ipswich Town.

On December 1, 1962, Sheffield Wednesday came to Portman Road with a side sprinkled with international players. Ipswich, a season after shocking the world of football by winning the Division One championship, were struggling.

They had won only three league games up to this point while Wednesday were heading for a top-six finish.

So it was a minor surprise - but hardly headline news - when Town won the game 2-0, with Ray Crawford scoring both goals.

It wasn't until nearly 18 months later that a Sunday newspaper revealed the sensational truth: three Sheffield players had bet against their own team. Tony Kay, Peter Swan, and David “Bronco'' Layne had each placed a bet of �50 at odds of 2-1, winning the not-so-princely sum of �50 each.

All three were jailed, and banned from football for life. In Swan's case, it ended not only his Wednesday career, but also his England career.

He was the man in possession of the England number five shirt at the time, and would have been favourite to play in the World Cup Final, ahead of Jack Charlton. All for a �50 bet.