On This Day 2017: Sutton reserve keeper Wayne Shaw resigns over pie-eating stunt

Sutton reserve goalkeeper Wayne Shaw agreed to resign from the club after eating a pie in the dugout during an FA Cup fifth-round defeat by Arsenal the previous evening.

A betting row erupted as a result of the incident and then-manager Paul Doswell soon confirmed Shaw’s departure.

Shaw was shown on television tucking into the snack towards the end of the 2-0 loss to Premier League opposition – Sutton had surprisingly beaten Championship club Leeds in the previous round – before admitting after the game he was aware that a bookmaker was offering odds on him to be seen doing so.

“Wayne has offered his resignation to the chairman this afternoon and that has been accepted. It’s a very sad end to what was a very good story,” Doswell told Sky News.

Both the Football Association and the Gambling Commission announced that they would carry out independent investigations into the publicity stunt and in September 2017 Shaw was fined £375 and banned for two months by the FA for breaching their betting rules.

Sun Bets tweeted after the game they had paid out a “five-figure sum” on a bet that Shaw, then 46, would be shown eating a pie. Tabcorp, which owns the Sun Bets brand, was later fined £84,000 by the Gambling Commission for offering the 8-1 odds.

The goalkeeper, who also worked as a coach for the club, said after the game he “would give them a bit of banter”.

Doswell confirmed both investigating bodies had been in touch with the club and said Shaw had made a “very genuine mistake” after being a big part of the media build-up to the cup-tie.

“Of course we’ve been contacted by the FA, the betting commission, and it’s been a very sobering morning,” he said.

“At the moment it’s early days and it’s by way of e-mails and other bits