IVAN TONEY will NOT be allowed to train for four months.
The Brentford striker, 27, was hit with an eight-month ban from all football-related activity with immediate effect following his 232 betting breaches.
That means he can not represent the Bees or England until January 2024.
But the FA statement also confirmed he cannot even take part in training until September in a further blow.
That means Toney will miss the rest of this season and cannot join his team-mates for pre-season or even any sessions once the new Premier League season gets underway.
But he will be permitted to get back involved at training from September 17 – four months before he is allowed to play in any competitive action again.
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The FA said: “Ivan Toney has been suspended from all football and football-related activity with immediate effect for eight months, which runs up to and including 16 January 2024, fined £50,000 and warned as to his future conduct for breaches of The FA’s Betting Rules.
“The Brentford FC forward was charged with 262 breaches of FA Rule E8 in total between 25 February 2017 and 23 January 2021. The FA subsequently withdrew 30 of these breaches and he admitted to the remaining 232.
“His sanctions were subsequently imposed by an independent Regulatory Commission following a personal hearing. He is permitted to return to training only with his club for the final four months of his suspension starting from 17 September 2023.
“The independent Regulatory Commission’s written reasons for these sanctions will be published in due course, and The FA will wait to review them before commenting further.”
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A brief Brentford comment said: “Ivan was charged with breaches of FA rule E8 and had a personal hearing earlier this week.
“Brentford FC is currently awaiting the publication of the written reasons of the independent Regulatory Commission. We will review them before considering our next steps.”
The decision wrecks Toney’s year, just two months after he made his England bow as a late replacement for skipper Harry Kane in the Euro 2024 qualifying win over Ukraine.
Toney, 27, the third-highest scorer in the Prem this season, with 20 goals and only below Erling Haaland and Kane in the goal charts, was a certainty to be named in Gareth Southgate’s squad for next month’s qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia.
Now, though, he is ineligible for selection and will not be allowed to play for his country until March.
Toney’s charges related to a four-year period between February 2017 and January 2021 when the striker was playing for Scunthorpe and Wigan – on loan from Newcastle – and subsequently Peterborough and the Bees.
There was never a suggestion that he placed wagers on any matches in which he was involved.
Toney appeared before an independent FA disciplinary commission yesterday in an attempt to argue down his looming ban – which will surely rule him out of a big-money summer switch.
Chelsea had been linked with a summer swoop for Brentford’s talisman, who currently earns around £20,000 per week.
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He will begin serving his suspension for Saturday’s clash with Tottenham, and will also be absent for the final day match-up with Manchester City.
And Arsenal fans fumed the suspension came in just ahead of the game against City – even though the title race may well already be over by the final game of the season.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
