FOREST GREEN have been dealt a major blow ahead of the new season after striker Andy Mangan was banned for five months.

Last season’s Blue Square Premier Golden Boot winner has also been fined £2,000 for betting on the outcome of the League Two match between Accrington and Bury on May 3 2008.

Mangan, then a Bury player, is one of four players to have been suspended for breaching betting rules.

He was alleged to have bet £3,500 on Bury to win the end of season dead rubber match – which they did 2-0.

Chester’s Jay Harris, then at Accrington, has been banned for a year and fined a total of £5,500 by an independent FA regulatory commission, David Mannix has been given a ten-month ban and fined £4,000, and Robert Williams was suspended for eight months and fined £3,500.

The case against another Accrington player, Peter Cavanagh, will be heard at a later date.

Mangan, who also made seven appearances during a loan spell at Accrington earlier in the 2007-08 season, did not play in the match, unlike Harris and Cavanagh.

Nicholas Stewart QC, chairman of the regulatory commission, said in a statement: "The regulatory commission have serious concerns that the outcome of the match may have been fixed although none of the players were charged with these offences."

Mangan joined Rovers in last summer and went on to become a key member of the first team as he scored 26 Blue Square Premier goals.

The 22-year-old’s future is unknown as he is yet to sign a new deal with Forest Green since his contract ran out in the summer. An official statement from Forest Green said: "Whilst Forest Green Rovers FC currently hold the player registration for Andrew Mangan, the club were not aware of any such enquiries by the Football Association into this matter until some six months after the player originally signed for the club. "The club has co-operated fully with the FA Regulatory Authority throughout the period of the enquiry, as the club holds the player's registration" "Neither the player, any member of management or officials of the club will be making any further statement with regard to this matter as the player is independently legally represented and the findings are at this time subject to the right of appeal and it would be wrong therefore to comment on a matter not involving Forest Green Rovers FC."