Game looks Toney deaf to issues

Ivan’s back but football is riddled with hypocrisy

IVAN TONEY has spent the past eight months plastering his body in reflective tattoos to help forget his gambling ban hell.

Yet here on his long-awaited return to action at Brentford, the more significant words were not written in ink. They were emblazoned across his chest.

Welcome to English football’s bizarre double standards.

A broken system that is happy to endorse gambling and claim its cash – but fall into trouble and you will be hung out to dry.

“I feel like a free man,” declared a stone-faced Toney in midweek.

He has not been held captive, nor been imprisoned, but the heartfelt statement was a damning reflection of the crippling mental struggles he has endured on his long road to liberation.

Thankfully, there was a priceless, early and deserving moment of redemption via a smartly-crafted 19th-minute free-kick.

Toney’s goalscoring powers have evidently not waned during his time away from the game.

Though that should come as no surprise given the 27-year-old struck four times – including a hat-trick against Southampton Under-23s – in two recent practice matches.

The decisive swing of his right boot also promptly hushed the buoyant travelling Forest faithful, who were the first batch of supporters to unsurprisingly revel in the mockery of Toney’s gambling addiction.

Collectively, football must look closer to home, hold itself accountable and take greater responsibility to stem the flow of the bleeding of a problem that remains rife throughout the sport.

Brentford have continued their front-of-shirt sponsorship collaboration with Hollywoodbets, who are effectively bankrolled by Smart Odds – a company founded by Bees owner Matthew Benham. It’s mystifying and perplexing yet equally rather sad.

Of course, the great irony of it all was that Toney, who celebrated his strike in front of advertising hoardings that encourage supporters to have a flutter, also placed money on Sky Bet Championship matches.

And there is just no getting away from the fact the Football Association, once sponsored by Ladbrokes, relished the opportunity to make a high-profile example of a full England international.

Toney undoubtedly did wrong and rightfully admitted to the 232 charges but we now require consistency if the issue is to be tackled seriously by the powers that be, whose list of priorities remains distorted.

Harry Toffolo, for instance, was on the visitors’ bench having previously been handed a suspended fivematch ban by the Football Association in mid-september despite 375 breaches of betting rules.

‘Substantial mitigation’ saw Toffolo’s punishment reduced and if Toney was not an emphatic professional, who recently displayed support for Newcastle’s Sandro Tonali, he may have felt somewhat aggrieved.

This was a truly strange occasion but a thoroughly entertaining football match that signified that Brentford intend to enjoy Toney’s presence while they can. And why would they not?

There are very few fan bases in world football that would tolerate a player actively angling for an exit as publicly as Toney.

He has not rocked the boat with a formal transfer request but he made it abundantly clear during a recent interview that he intends to play for a top club “whether it’s this January” or beyond.

Less than 24 hours later, Toney’s image was sprawled across a billboard erected next to the M4 flyover. He remains adored and idolised – despite his imperfections.

He is worth his weight in gold to Thomas Frank, whose Bees have a far healthier league table position following this box-office triumph.

It also says so much about Toney’s character, talent and quality that his stock has drastically risen in the midst of his absence.

Brentford have experienced rare Premier League turbulence while there is also a desperate shortage of top-class strikers – capable of delivering a fortune-changing goal output – within the market.

Arsenal may not think he is worth a £100million transfer – but he is worth that figure to Brentford.

Football must hold itself accountable and take greater responsibility to stem the flow of the bleeding of a problem that is rife