Ivan Toney speaks out on betting ban: ‘I want to be a different animal when I come back’

Brentford and England striker Ivan Toney has spoken out on his eight-month ban from football. Speaking to Kick Game UK about the timing of his charges and ban, Toney said: “In a way it’s like get it out now so you don’t go England and then all of a sudden they want to wait until the end of the season to do the kind of things but listen it is what it is. “For the people out there they are painting me with a certain picture which is fair enough, they can go off what they want to see but people that know me know who I am and what I am about.” The former Peterborough United forward also spoke on the lack of support for players surrounding gambling, adding: “A majority of football teams now are “If that’s the rules that you shouldn’t be betting then yeah you shouldn’t be betting but for people that need help there should be more around to stop them from leading to that direction or whatever. There’s certain people that try to break people down and how it came out just before the England camp, obviously missed out on the World Cup — that would have been the biggest dream for me to do.” Gareth Southgate said in May that football has to look after Toney and the England manager’s support has not gone unnoticed by the striker. “Every season I have done better scoring much more goals and when I come back, I am hungry now to come back, when January comes like I said you will see a different animal.” The England international, who has been capped once by his country, has two more years left to run on his contract at Brentford.