Adie Britton has out against corruption in football after further allegations of match-fixing in the lower leagues of the English game emerged last week.
Six people were subsequently arrested as part of an ongoing investigation into an international betting ring and Bath City director of football Britton admitted the situation fills him with "great sadness".
Betting was suspended on matches involving three of City's Essex-based rivals in last year's Conference South – Chelmsford City, Billericay Town and AFC Hornchurch – by UK bookmakers in March due to integrity concerns.
Britton said: "I don't think any of our players have been approached whilst they have been at this football club but it possibly might have happened elsewhere. You do hear things said from time to time and you begin to wonder if there is some truth in it.
"At the edges of league football, at the top of the non-league game, there are lots of lads desperate to improve their career and get into the Football League. Financially they are struggling, holding down a job but trying to play football as well. Obviously that needs financing and sometimes I am sure desperate people do desperate things.
"There are things you see and hear that don't ring quite true. For example, last season when you look at one or two of the results in the league we are in, given that we have played all the sides, one or two results come up where a certain side at the bottom plays third or fourth in the league and wins quite handsomely, you begin to wonder.
"I know there was one game in particular that everybody talks about. It just seems too coincidental when you have heard it from so many sources".
The BBC have reported that one game under scrutiny – Welling v Billericay - was played out in front of just 408 spectators and attracted hundreds of thousands of pounds-worth of bets, the vast majority of it on Asian exchanges.
Non-league football is an obvious target given that many games are not videoed and the general degree of scrutiny is less than in the Premier or Football League.
Britton said: "I know in our dressing room that if anyone came in and we thought for one moment they had done anything untoward, I know we would have a lot of lads who would feel badly let down.
"I could never tolerate in the slightest anybody who was involved in such a thing. I haven't experienced it in my 25 years in football and I have never seen it at Bath City.
"I think the soccer authorities need to look at the individuals and look at the clubs. If any club is proven to be involved in this, they should be automatically relegated because if you don't do that it makes a farce of the competition you are in.
"My view is first and foremost one of great sadness. I love all sport.
"The fan in me says I don't want to watch a product that is not the real deal and I would hate to think we are about to play in a match that is not a real game of football."
