Ivan Toney has admitted initially denying allegations about his gambling addiction during the probe into 232 offences committed by the Brentford and England striker. Back in May, Toney was banned from all football activity for eight months for breaching the Football Association’s betting rules.
The 27-year-old is not cleared to play until January 16, 2024 and was fined £50,000 after admitting to the breaches. The FA’s report suggests that the former Newcastle man would have been banned for 15 months had he not been diagnosed with a gambling addiction.
But Toney has now revealed that he initially denied his conduct to the people investigating. He only admitted to his behaviour once he realised the investigation would continue.
“That was when they threw everything at me. I thought ‘I would deny it and then it’s all fine and they wouldn’t find anything’. Then everything went through and I admitted to what I have done,” Toney told the Diary of a CEO podcast.
Despite a lengthy playing ban, Toney has revealed his ‘biggest punishment’ was missing out on playing for England at the World Cup. News of his charges was made public just before the Three Lions squad met before the tournament.
He said: “Personally, I felt like it was a bit of a questionable time when they decided to bring it all out and then when they actually dealt with the situation come the end of the season, it’s kind of like why bring it out then?
“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 like somebody’s out to get me at that time, to stop me from playing for England. Looking back on what I’ve done, would I change some bits probably, but it is what it is.
“I’ll take full responsibility for the punishment I’m getting now. I know for a fact I’ll come back stronger than this, I’m better than I was before.
“If I wasn’t as strong as I was in my head that would break some people; I’d be at a petrol station they’d scream certain things and I’d be with my family and my children and people just be like shouting dumb things out.
“There’s a lot of haters and doubters out there thinking, he ain’t going to be the same man when he’s back, actually they’re right I’m gonna be a different man, I’m going to be even better than that guy who scored them goals before. I’m built different, my mentality’s different.”
Toney also revealed that he was turned away from restaurants and car insurance companies in the aftermath of the initial allegations. Speaking about arriving at a restaurant only to be told he would not be granted entry, he said: “I was like, ‘what do you mean?’ And then [the response] was ‘the allegations, we’re not allowing you in’, or something like this.
“I was actually so confused. I was thinking, ‘for starters, it’s allegations and second of all you are a restaurant how can you not let someone in because of bad press?’
“I was just baffled. And my car insurance, they wouldn’t insure me due to the whole scandal. And I was like, ‘car insurance? They won’t have me on their books?’. It was baffling.”