Colombian winger Cristian Montano has been accused of match fixing. The club has officially announced that with immediate effect Cristian Montano will be suspended without pay until the conclusion of investigations into spot-fixing allegations. An investigation will now be launched by the club into the claims. The Latics paid West Ham around £50,000 for 21-year-old Montano last August and his contract is due to expire at the end of this season.
The allegation is that Montano was alleged to have tried to get booked in the League One match, for a cash payment, in the first half of their match at Wolves in October. He did not get booked and a report by a Sunday newspaper includes a video of him, in a Manchester hotel, apologising for his failure to former Portsmouth defender Sam Sodje. He apparently swore at the referee and tried to foul Wolves players but was not yellow carded until the second half of the game. Wolves won the match lost 2-0. He also added that he was willing to repeat the trick in subsequent games. Sodje is implicated at the centre of the scam and is reported to have received £70,000 for being red carded when Portsmouth lost 1-0 against Athletic last season. Sodje punched Jose Baxter in the groin and was red carded for the incident.
It is understood that the Latics had no idea knowledge about the claims until the story was released. A spokesman for the club said, "Oldham Athletic Football Club has been made aware of the incident and allegation surrounding one of its players, Cristian Montano. The club will commence an immediate internal investigation to establish all the relevant facts of the case. The club is co-operating with other agencies in this matter and cannot comment on specific facts at this stage."
Source: Oldham Athletic Mad
Source: FOOTYMAD
