Thomas Frank insists it would be ‘WRONG’ for the FA to ban him from speaking to Ivan Toney during the Brentford striker’s eight-month suspension…
Brentford manager Thomas Frank insisted it would be ‘wrong’ for the FA to prevent him from communicating with Ivan Toney during the striker’s eight-month suspension.
The FA revealed the written reasons behind Toney’s lengthy suspension on Friday, issued earlier this month after the Bees striker pleaded guilty to 232 breaches of the governing body’s gambling rules.
The 27-year-old is unable to play for both England and Brentford until January 2024 and is banned from training with his domestic club until September, leaving him with no choice but to train solely to keep fit.
As the suspension completely bans Toney from playing football, the striker is not allowed to communicate with his managers and teammates, but Frank, hours after the FA’s report, insisted he continue to speak to his striker.
“If I can’t talk to him, I think they should suspend me too. If I can’t support him, something must be wrong,” Frank said at his press conference on Friday.
Thomas Frank insisted he keep talking to Ivan Toney during his eight-month suspension
“The relationship between football and gambling needs to be reviewed. We got a huge memory. Are we doing enough to train our players? The government has an enormous task to ensure that we do this much better.’
In the meantime, Toney – who has faced the wrath of Newcastle fans according to the FA’s reasoning – issued a cryptic six-word response via social media, tweeting, “Speaking without a filter soon.”
The governing body revealed that Toney has been diagnosed with a gambling addiction by a psychiatric professional since the start of their investigation and is “determined to tackle his gambling problem” by season’s end.
The FA’s bombshell report, released on Friday, revealed that Toney:
- Placed 13 bets on his own team between August 2017 and March 2018, including 11 against his parent club Newcastle, while on loan at Wigan
- Told a friend he would start his next club match in March 2018
- Used other people’s accounts to place bets despite initial denial of the allegations
- Admitted to lying during his first interview with the FA when questioned about gambling charges
- Suspected of having a separate mobile phone to place bets, which he failed to hand over to the FA during their investigation.
- Still betting on other sports and casino games and ‘determined to tackle his gambling problem with therapy’ during ban
More to follow.