The English FA have released a full report on why embattled Brentford star Ivan Toney was suspended from football.
They additionally gave detailed explanation on why his initial 15-month suspension was reduced to 8 months.
Firstly, Ivan Toney was culpable for placing 16 bets on 15 different teams for his team at the time to win.
The man who has been capped once by the Three Lions of England also placed 29 bets on games involving the club he was playing for or loaned at.
Shockingly, it was revealed that the man with the name initials BET (Benjamin Elijah Toney) didn’t feature in any of the matches he bet on his team to lose.
However, he featured in 11 matches when gambling on his club to come out victorious in the encounter.
Ivan Toney pleaded guilty to 232 rule breaches and acknowledged he had “consistently lied” in a interview with the FA before he was indicted.
The 27-year-old said in the interview repeatedly that he did not stake on football.
Ivan Toney finally revealed he had used third parties to place bets for him and expunged evidence from his device.
It was also shared with the public that 11 of the 13 bets placed on his team to be defeated were made against Newcastle United.
However, Ivan Benjamin Elijah Toney was not at the club during the time he made those bets.
126 bets were on tournaments his team was involved in, or were eligible to feature in.
The English FA had wanted to slam him with a 15-month suspension but it was dropped down to 8 months after he was diagnosed with a gambling addiction.
Ivan Toney definitely needs all the support he can get as he prepares to return to football on the 17th of January 2024.
Brentford have established that Toney will not appeal the judgment and have given the player their full backing, while the PFA are also providing the player the assistance needed.
A statement from the club reads: “The club will now be doing everything possible to provide support to Ivan and his family to deal with the issues raised in this case.
“We consider this matter closed and look forward to welcoming Ivan back to training in September and seeing him representing Brentford in the Premier League in January.”
Meanwhile, in the judgment of the Football Association, they made it clear that the case on Ivan Toney did not include match or sport-fixing.
They did substantiate that there was enough evidence that he knew betting on football is forbidden.
Panel chair David Casement KC wrote: “The present case is not one of match-fixing, if it was, the charges would have been pursued under different provisions.
“There is no evidence that Mr Toney did or was even in a position to influence his own team to lose when he placed bets against them winning — he was not in the squad or eligible to play at the time…
“However the reason for using third parties and their betting accounts was to conceal football betting from the FA in case there was ever an investigation.”
Ivan Benjamin Elijah Toney is suspended from training activities at Brentford’s training ground, the Robert Rowan Performance Centre until the 17th of September 2023.
It appears like his addiction to betting like earlier highlighted isn’t only on football as he also continues to bet on other sports.
A section of the report states: “The commission finds that a significant reduction should be made to reflect the diagnosed gambling addiction identified by Dr Hopley.
“The lack of control the player has in respect of gambling is clearly a reflection of his diagnosed gambling addiction.
Anyway, we can’t tell if this is a family thing as Ivan Toney’s cousin, Nathan Hicks who is a lower league player was also earlier punished for gambling.
The non-league player was fined £500 for his involvement in betting.
In conclusion, Ivan Toney finally broke his silence on Friday as he took to micro-blogging site, Twitter to write: “I’ll speak soon with no filter.”
The former Northampton town player added in an Instagram story: “I used to rush to defend myself against false accusations but now I watch to see who believes it so I know who to cut off first.”
