Matthew Le Tissier, the ex-Southampton star, has landed himself in trouble with police over the astonishing admission in his recently released autobiography that he was involved in a betting scam as a player.

Whilst there is no indication that there was any match fixing involved, Le Tissier revealed that he tried to make money from placing bets on the time of the first throw-in during a Premier League match between Southampton and Wimbledon in 1995.

Le Tissier is no longer directly involved in football and, as such, there is little that the FA can do with regards to a reprimand. However, a spokesman for the FA has confirmed that they have been contacted by Hampshire police, which raises the possibility of a criminal charge. Le Tissier is currently a pundit for Sky Sports, who have neglected to comment on the story so far.

The former England midfielder used his autobiography to explain in detail the attempted scam, which he claimed to have orchestrated himself. He says he tried to kick the ball out of play straight from kick off, but was thwarted by team-mate Neil Shipperley who was unaware of the bet and managed to keep the ball in play. Le Tissier even went as far as to say that, as the game was live on television, he tried not to make it too obvious and only slightly over-hit the pass. The ball eventually went out of play after just over a minute which, according to Le Tissier, meant he neither won nor lost any money. He also claimed to have never tried spread betting since.

This is by no means the first betting scandal in football . Probably the most famous case involved ex-Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar, who was accused of match fixing by The Sun newspaper in 1994. More recently, in 2005, Germany’s Bundesliga II was rocked by allegations that referee Robert Hoyzer had fixed matches in which he was officiating. Hoyzer was subsequently banned for life and spent 29 months in prison. There have also been similar scandals in Spain and, of course, Italy, where the recent ‘Calciopoli’ case made headlines around the world. Five clubs - Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reginna - were found guilty to varying extents and Juventus were demoted to Serie B and given a 9 point deduction for the following season.

The advent of betting exchanges such as Betfair has made it easier to trace suspicious betting patterns in online gambling and made it more difficult for betting scams to succeed, but it’s clear that attempts are still being made. The various national and international football governing bodies will be anxious to avoid the negative publicity that these scandals attract and may need to consider more draconian punishments for those proven to be involved.