Stretford will appeal against the sanctions imposed by a disciplinary commission after the agent was charged by the Football Association relating to how he acquired the right to represent Rooney in 2002.

Stretford, founder of Proactive Sports Management which became the Formation Group four years ago, was found guilty of seven out of nine charges.

The commission ruled Stretford "muscled in" to persuade Rooney to breach his representation contract with previous agents Pro-Form but a charge he had enticed the player to do so was not proven.

Some of the charges were for improper conduct, in relation to Stretford "making of false and/or misleading witness statements to police and giving false and/or misleading testimony to Warrington Crown Court" about the circumstances of how he came to represent Rooney.

The ban will not come into force until after any appeal or move to go to arbitration by Stretford. The second nine months of the suspension will not be invoked so long as he is not found to have not broken any other regulations.

Stretford said: "I believe the verdicts of the disciplinary panel against me are a travesty of the facts heard by its members during the hearing.

"I will be lodging an immediate appeal against the verdicts and continue to maintain my complete innocence of the charges brought against me.

"These charges came about as a result of my appearance at a criminal trial as a witness for the prosecution against men accused of blackmailing me with menaces.

"In pursuing their case against me, the FA seems almost wilfully to have cast me as the accused in the trial rather than a prosecution witness acting properly in the interests of justice."

The independent regulatory commission ruled as "proved" seven of nine charges brought by the FA against Stretford for breaches of the FIFA players' agent regulations.

The charges included failing to protect Rooney's interests and failing to respect the rights of third parties.

A statement on www.thefa.com read: "The commission found that Mr Stretford did encourage Mr Rooney and his parents to enter into a representation agreement with Proactive Sports Management Limited on 17 July 2002 although he knew Mr Rooney was still then under contract with Pro-Form."

Stretford had argued the July 2002 agreement was only intended to be a contract regarding Rooney's image rights, but pressure will now increase on Formation Group's chief executive Neil Rodford, who in 2002 was Proactive's chief operating officer, and who handled much of the negotiations.

Stretford said had the case been heard in public the outcome would have been in favour.

He added: "It has always been my contention that the FA case against me should have been heard in public and by an independent panel. Had that been the case, I believe the verdicts would have been very different."

In relation to the Warrington Crown Court case, the commission said two improper conduct charges had been proved.

The statement added: "The commission found that Mr Stretford had made a misleading witness statement and had given untruthful evidence in court in criminal proceedings in Warrington Crown Court, particularly in relation to the existence, dates and nature of those representation agreements dated 17 July 2002 and 19 September 2002."

The commission's ruling stated one improper conduct charge was proved because Stretford had told he court he "had not 'muscled in' to make Mr Wayne Rooney breach his representation contract with Pro-Form."

A further charge of entering into a representation contract with Rooney for eight years - six years longer than the two-year limit for written contracts between agents and their clients - was also proved.

Two other charges of failing to lodge representation contracts with the FA were also proved, but a third was not.