Ivan Toney on Celtic and Rangers transfer collapse as striker reveals he needed 'main man' guarantee

Ivan Toney has revealed that being told he wouldn’t be the main man up front at Celtic and Rangers was behind his decision to snub a move to Scotland in favour of a switch to Brentford.

The red-hot striker - currently serving an eight-month ban for 232 breaches of the Football Association's betting rules - spoke out of about his transfer decision in the summer of 2020 when he was hot property after a free-scoring spell at Peterborough.

But the 27-yer-old has told how he would have been one of a number of striker at the Old Firm but wanted to be the No. 1. Toney eventually signed for Brentford in a deal worth up to £10 million deal - then Celtic boss Neil Lennon side Albian Ajeti for half that fee the same summer - and says Bees boss Thomas Frank made him feel like the main man. Speaking on the Diary of a CEO podcast with the Steven Bartlett of Dragons' Den, he said: "I did speak to other clubs. I actually went up to Rangers and spoke with the manager there, which was Steven Gerrard at the time.

"We spoke a bit, but there were two strikers at the time and they were looking to bring another one in, so there would've been four strikers. I think the formation that they played, the majority of the time was one striker up top. So I would have been third choice, something like this.

"We went to Celtic, we spoke to Celtic and I think it was the same there. I'm one of three strikers or something like this. I think at the time when I was moving, I wanted to be the main guy. The crucial thing for me is playing games.

"Even though I back myself when I’m competing with other strikers, I want to know when I go in, bursting through the door I’m the main man up front. It’s up to me and when I spoke to the manager at Brentford he