It is “ludicrous” to think players won’t be impacted by the level of gambling messages within football according to Guardian writer Rob Davies.

The FA announced on Wednesday that Ivan Toney had been banned from football for eight months following breaches to football betting rules.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Davies said: “There is a lot we still don’t know [about the case]. We don’t know if Ivan Toney has a gambling problem, he hasn’t said that, we don’t know if he was betting on his own matches or matches in the same division that he was playing in.

“Those will be seen as aggravating factors and we won’t know for sure until the FA has published its written reasons.

“What we do know is that the football authorities can hardly act surprised when a young man who plays football can become obsessed with betting when the sport is doing everything it can to ram betting down the throats of fans and by extension footballers themselves.”

In April Premier League clubs collectively agreed to withdraw gambling sponsorship from the front of their matchday shirts by the end of the 2025-26 season, but this doesn’t impact gambling adverts in other parts of football.

“24/7 you’re told to bet while you’re watching football on television, when you’re at the ground, when you’re listening to a podcast or watching a fan TV channel on YouTube,” added Davies.

“It’s basically inescapable and the idea that these wall-to-wall messages don’t have an effect on the way fans and footballers themselves think is ludicrous.

“Gambling has got a hold on the football industry now and we’ve seen lots of incidents where it’s compromised the game. It’s nothing new and Ivan Toney is just a symptom of the same issue.”