Brentford striker Ivan Toney has described the English Football Association as “spiteful” over its handling of his eight-month ban for breaking betting rules.
Toney was suspended from football for eight months, fined £50,000 ($62,000) and warned about his future conduct after admitting to 232 breaches of FA betting rules.
The 27-year-old missing the World Cup was a “bigger punishment” than his actual ban after being omitted from Gareth Southgate’s Qatar 2022 squad and, while he accepts his punishment, he feels the timing of his charges being made public was harsh.
The FA announced Toney had been charged with 262 breaches in November, effectively ruling him out of contention for the World Cup in Qatar, but he had to wait until May before receiving his ban. “It came out just before the England camp.