Taylor Curran, whose former clubs include Southend, Swindon and Maidstone, serving four-month ban for betting on football matches

Former Maidstone defender Taylor Curran is serving a four-month ban for breaching betting rules.

Curran, now on the books at National League South club Welling, placed 311 football-related bets over five seasons between July 2018 and March 2022.

Details have been released after the FA published the written reasons of the decision made by the Regulatory Commission.

The period covers his time with Southend, Braintree, Swindon, Maidstone and Welling.

He placed bets on Southend to lose while with the Shrimpers, although he never played for the first team.

The total amount staked was £3,916.78, with returns of £3,530.35 - meaning Curran made a loss of £386.43.

In an interview in April this year, Curran, who accepted the charge, told the FA he was not aware he could not bet on football.

He said was “totally unaware of the rules”.

Curran, 22, could not specifically recall the bets placed against his own team, Southend, saying: “I probably just got a bit carried away that I could bet when I turned 18 and didn’t really give a s*** who I bet on because I was excited.”

The defender did not recall being present at a meeting in the summer of 2019 while at Swindon during which a video was played that included information on betting rules.

He subsequently accepted FA records showing he had been at the meeting but had issues that were affecting his mental well-being at the time and did not take on board the information about the prohibition on betting.

The commission gave credit for Curran’s assistance, his acceptance of the charge and the fact he had no previous record for breaching the FA’s betting rules.

They noted, individually, the bets were for relatively modest sums and that he hadn’t made a profit.

The panel also did not