FA chiefs ‘did NOT tell Gareth Southgate to leave Ivan Toney out due to gambling charges’
FA chief Mark Bullingham ‘did NOT tell England manager Gareth Southgate to leave Ivan Toney out of his 26-man World Cup squad because of gambling charges – insisting the decision was made entirely for footballing reasons’
England manager Gareth Southgate was not told by the FA to leave Ivan Toney out of his World Cup squad because of gambling charges, according to reports.
The Brentford striker was accused of 232 separate breaches of betting rules this week and faces a possible ban until the end of the season at the very least.
Toney, who is the third-highest Premier League goal-scorer this season behind Erling Haaland and Harry Kane, was in contention to make Southgate’s 26-man squad earlier this month but narrowly missed out to forwards Callum Wilson and Marcus Rashford.
According to ITV, FA CEO Mark Bullingham did not tell the Three Lions boss to snub Toney as a result of his gambling charges.
He instead insisted that it was Southgate’s decision to leave out Toney on football grounds alone.
Sportsmail revealed on Wednesday that a report triggered by the FA’s probe into Toney’s gambling allegations is approximately 2,800 pages long.
FA chiefs reportedly ‘did not tell Gareth Southgate to leave out Ivan Toney due to gambling allegations’
Toney is not believed to have bet against his own team, an offence which could trigger a lifetime ban, yet could well have bet on Brentford to win matches, which would induce a six-month ban is among the potential punishments.
The allegations relate to period stemming from February 2017 to January 2021.
England jetted to Qatar on Tuesday ahead of their World Cup opener against Iran next week.
FA CEO Mark Bullingham (R) ‘says Southgate chose to leave him out on football grounds alone’