Ivan Toney ban: Former Newcastle United striker’s teasing six-word response after betting charge

The Brentford striker was charged with 262 breaches of FA Rule E8 between 2017 and 2021. The FA withdrew 30 of the alleged breaches while Toney admitted to the remaining 232.

The 27-year-old will be allowed to return to Brentford to train from September 17, 2023 for the final four months of his suspension.

Following the charge, Toney took to Twitter to tease: “I’ll speak soon with no filter.”

The independent Regulatory Commission’s written reasons for Toney’s sanctions have been made public, which show that the striker bet against Newcastle on 11 occasions while contracted to the club.

Toney was under contract at Newcastle from 2015 to 2018 but spent the majority of his time out on loan at various clubs in League One. Since leaving The Magpies to join Peterborough United and then Brentford, Toney has established himself as one of England’s most prolific strikers in recent years with 117 goals in his last 218 appearances.

Toney earned his first England cap in March 2023 before his suspension was confirmed.

Toney was counselled by sports lawyer Nick De Marco, who also represented Newcastle during their legal battle with the Premier League over the Saudi-led takeover of the club which was eventually approved in October 2021.

And the Regulatory Commission’s findings said that of the 232 breaches of FA Rule E8, 126 bets related to matches that took place in a competition Toney’s club had participated in during the same season.

Of the 126 bets, 29 were linked to the club that the player was registered with or on loan with at the time. 16 of the 29 bets were for Toney’s own team to win 15 different matches, 11 of which he played in.

The remaining 13 bets were for the striker’s own team to lose. He did not feature in any of the seven matches in which he bet against his own team, the majority of which were against Newcastle while he was out on loan elsewhere.

11 of the 13 bets were against Newcastle while the other two related to a game between Wigan Athletic and Aston Villa. Toney was on loan at Wigan at the time but did not feature in the squad for the game.

A further 15 of the 126 bets were for Toney to score in nine different matches in which he featured. The Commission found that all 15 of the bets were initiated by the player at a time when it was not public knowledge that he would be playing in a particular fixture.

There were also six bets on specific events to take place during matches that did not involve Toney. The aforementioned 50 combined bets have been deemed as the most serious of Toney’s 232 offences based on the FA guidelines and can carry a football suspension from six months to life.

His eight month football suspension has come into effect immediately and will end on January 16, 2024. Meaning he will miss over half of the 2023-24 Premier League campaign.