Ivan Toney has accused the English Football Association (FA) of sabotaging his dream of playing at the Qatar World Cup by announcing betting charges against him on the eve of the tournament.
The 27-year-old is banned until January after admitting 232 breaches of the FA’s rules on gambling.
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Allegations of an investigation were first reported by the Daily Mail on Nov. 5 and Toney responded on Twitter confirming he was “assisting the Football Association with their enquiries.”
Those revelations came just five days before England manager Gareth Southgate announced his 26-man squad for the finals.
Toney had been enjoying a fine season for Brentford and was tipped by many to be included despite being uncapped at that stage; his first call-up came as an unused squad member in September’s double-header against Italy and Germany.
On Nov. 17, the FA publicly confirmed Toney had been charged with 232 breaches. The World Cup started in Qatar on Nov. 20 and on Dec. 22, three days after the final in which Argentina beat France, the FA charged Toney with a further 30 breaches.
ESPN reported on March 2 that Toney had admitted breaking rules prior to appearing before a disciplinary panel. In May, he was banned by an independent commission for eight months, fined £50,000 and cannot train with his club teammates until September.
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said Toney was left out of Southgate’s squad purely on “footballing grounds” but the striker challenged that assumption when speaking about his ban for the first time on “the Diary of a CEO” podcast.
“I’m not too aware of all this stuff but I feel like it was a bit of a coincidence when they decided to bring it all out and then having to be dealt with the punishment at the end of the season, so far after,” Toney said.
“I feel like yes I’m banned now but the biggest punishment for me was missing out on playing at the World Cup. I felt more hurt and down around that time. I felt like somebody is out to get me at that time to stop me from playing for England. In my head, that’s how I saw it at the time.
“They want to punish me for this — missing out on England, the World Cup, it is everybody’s dream to be playing at the World Cup — and then further down the line, ban me as well. It was like a double hit.
“If you are going to stop me from going to the World Cup, do it there and then and deal with the whole situation rather than missing out on the World Cup, then letting me play the rest of the season and then banning me after the season…. it doesn’t add up in my head to be fair.”
Asked whether the timing of his charges being made public was designed to prevent him to playing for England, Toney replied: “I assume so and to make it a bigger story. Personally, anyway, I don’t know if it’s true. I’m not to know what is behind the scenes. But I feel like if you have somebody going to the World Cup that’s supposed to be betting, then it is a bigger story.”
The FA declined to comment when contacted by ESPN but sources have firmly rejected any suggestion Toney was prevented from being named in England’s World Cup squad.
Sources added that the timetable of the case was decided by independent arbiters — and not the FA — after consultation with all parties.
Toney also subsequently made his England debut in March — a 2-0 home win over Ukraine — while under investigation.
Documents released alongside his eight-month ban showed that a 15-month ban would have been imposed had Toney not pled guilty. Further clemency came from psychiatrist Dr Philip Hopley determining that he had a “diagnosed gambling addiction.”
Toney, who claimed to have been turned away by restaurants and car insurers after the scandal broke, added he does not gamble anymore.
“No [I don’t gamble now], he said. “I think it’s kind of been in the public eye if I was going into these places. It’s more the embarrassment of “is he still continuing?”
“So I wouldn’t allow myself. You look back and take a backseat, look at the money you lost and what it could have gone on. Especially now, having people to provide for. It could go to here or just managing money better, [that’s] how I look at things. I can see it as me being naïve.”
“There are some bets in there that I don’t recall making. The bets on my team to lose when I’m not playing, the majority of those were within the bets that personally I think I didn’t do, but I still took responsibility for them so the whole process could get cleared up.”
Toney also hinted he would be open to leaving Brentford if a Premier League heavyweight made the club a suitable offer.
“Everyone wants to play at the top of the tree,” he added. “Not that Brentford aren’t there, but everyone wants to play for these big clubs and compete for trophies.
“If a chance was to come along, I would be silly not to look into it. The manager knows that I want to play at the highest level possible and whenever that time comes, so be it. My time at Brentford has been probably the best of my career.
“The next club I go to will be the right club. I am a Liverpool fan my whole life. I have liked Arsenal from young, how they play and how passionate their fans are. But I’m a Liverpool boy, Liverpool fan at heart… I liked [Dimitar] Berbatov. I liked watching United a lot when Berbatov was there, too.”