Brentford striker Ivan Toney has expressed his frustration with the Football Association (FA) for what he considers a “spiteful” act of leaking his betting charges.
Toney has recently spoken openly about the situation, marking the first time he has addressed the issue since receiving an eight-month ban. He admitted to 232 breaches of the FA’s betting rules.
In the previous month, Toney was handed a £50,000 fine and suspended from all football-related activities until January 17 due to his betting offenses spanning over four years.
The allegations against the 27-year-old initially surfaced in late 2022 and had significant consequences, as it cost him a place in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.
Toney’s discontent stems from the manner in which his charges were made public, deeming it a malicious act by the FA. His focus now lies on serving his ban and moving forward from this challenging period in his career.
Toney opened up in the Kick Game YouTube channel, where he claimed missing out on the World Cup was more painful than the 8-month ban that was imposed on him.
He also faulted the FA for the manner in which his betting offences were publicized, describing it as ‘spiteful’.
‘People try to break people down,’ He said as per BBC.
‘It came out, just before the England camp, obviously missing out on the World Cup… In a way, it was kind of like: ‘get out now so you don’t go [away with] England’.
‘And then all of a sudden they want to wait until the end of the season… but it is what it is. They wanted to do it that way. I call it a bit spiteful. You just have to get on with it.
According to Toney, missing out on the World Cup was a ‘bigger punishment’, but he hopes to make the next one, when he will be 31.
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham had previously stated there was no relationship between the timing of the betting charges and Toney’s omission from the England squad, which he claimed was for sporting reasons.
Toney’s plan B to keep fit
It was also reported on Ivan Toney’s next course of action to stay fit after he was banned from footballing activity.
The 27-year-old could join a rugby team for pre-season ahead of his return to training on September 17, as their core fitness training regime is fundamentally similar to football.
Brentford boss, Thomas Frank and England national team head coach, Gareth Southgate both frowned at the ban on training, claiming it is not the best rehabilitation process to leave him out of the football community.