Brentford striker Ivan Toney pleads guilty after being charged with 262 charges for breaking gambling rules. In the majority of these cases, Toney has now pleaded guilty, which means that he faces a substantial suspension.
The Daily Mail was the first to raise this case and now also knows that it will result in a hefty penalty. November last year it was announced that the English Football Association was investigating Toney’s gambling behaviour. At that time, the investigation had already been running for seven months. The gambling activities, incidentally, date from years ago, when Toney was not yet playing for Brentford.
The Football Association (FA) brought 262 charges before a committee and Toney has now pleaded guilty in the majority of the cases. He will contest some charges, but a suspension before the end of this season seems inevitable.
In the roughly comparable case of Joey Barton (the former midfielder bet on more than a thousand games), a suspension of no less than five months followed. Toney was originally charged with 232 offences, to which 30 charges have been added by the FA. Toney made fourteen league goals for Brentford this season, only Harry Kane (18) and Erling Haaland (27) scored more goals in the Premier League.
It is also expected that this development will have consequences for Toney’s position with the national team. The striker dropped out at the last minute for World Cup participation with England, but it was expected that national coach Gareth Southgate could no longer ignore the striker given his form in the competition. England will play the European Championship qualifiers against Italy and Ukraine in March, in which Toney could have made his debut for The Three Lions.
Sticking with English football
Blackburn Rovers manager Jon Dahl Tomasson is filled with pride after Leicester City’s elimination in the FA Cup round of 16. Rovers reached the quarter-finals in the biggest English cup competition for the first time since the 2014/15 season.
“It was an incredible night for the club: this was a well-deserved win,” the Rovers manager told the Lancashire Telegraph. “The players showed courage on the ball against an extremely strong team. Leicester City was 4-1 too strong for Tottenham Hotspur for a few weeks.”
Tyrhys Dolan and Sammie Szmodics helped Blackburn to a 1-2 win. Kelechi Iheanacho made the final phase at the King Power Stadium even more exciting. “We got a bit nervous towards the end of the game, but we gave everything and fought until the end. This achievement is yet another chapter in the great history of this club,” said Tomasson.
