CRYSTAL Palace assistant manager Keith Millen says any footballer found guilty of match-fixing should be banned from the game.
Last week, two non-league footballers from Croydon, Michael Boateng and Hakeem Adelakun, who played for Brighton-based club Whitehawk, were charged with "conspiracy to defraud contrary to common law" in relation to match-fixing.
They have since been sacked. It is understood that both played for Palace as youngsters too.
In an unrelated investigation, six people were arrested and questioned this week after allegations of so-called "spot fixing" were reported by The Sun newspaper.
It is alleged the players in question deliberately got themselves booked or sent off to win bets.
The six, who were all released on bail, pending further enquiries, included Blackburn Rovers striker DJ Campbell and former Portsmouth defender Sam Sodje.
"It's a massive concern, especially when you've got players who are playing, and players I played against," Millen exclusively told the Advertiser.
"Hopefully they can get to the bottom of it, whether it's true or how much truth is in it.
"If these men are found guilty, they need to be banned from the game. It's as simple as that.
"If there is evidence in that, there isn't a second life. That's your career finished.
"There has to be that strong a punishment that they don't do it again. Hopefully they get to the bottom of it, but if it is true and they are guilty, they need to be punished to stamp it out of the game."
Adelakun and Boateng are charged with conspiring together with two men who have also been charged, and others, to "defraud bookmakers by influencing the course of football matches and placing bets thereon".
They have been bailed to appear at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on December 11.
