Brentford striker Ivan Toney revealed he grew up a Liverpool fan but always enjoyed watching Arsenal during an interview in which he discussed his eight-month ban for gambling-related activities.
Toney was charged with 262 breaches in November last year and in May the Football Association announced his ban and £50,000 fine after he had admitted to 232 of the counts.
The England international will not return until January 2023 and he has voiced his bemusement, saying it is “baffling” he is not allowed to train with his Brentford teammates.
The whole football community is big on mental health and then the FA are going to do this and push me away,” Toney said on the Diary of a CEO podcast.
“It’s not a place I want people to feel sorry for me. That’s the last thing that I want.
So, what if someone not as strong as me in the head is going through this situation and their punishment is they are not allowed at the club – that would break them.
“Right now, not being around the training ground, it does hurt me. I just know when I’m at the training ground, I train harder. It’s not a nice feeling. Not being allowed at the training ground is baffling to me.
“I’m counting down the days until I can be training and around the boys. It’s like being in football prison at the moment.”
In the lengthy interview, Toney was asked about transfer gossip and where he sees himself playing after Brentford.
He insists all the talk does not bother him but he does want to play at the top level.
“I don’t let this all affect me,” the 27-year-old said. “It’s obviously going on in the background, when you get the chance in games I’ve got to score and keep doing well.
“Everybody wants to play at the top of the tree, not that Brentford aren’t there, but I feel like going to a big club and fighting for trophies is something everyone wants to do.
“If the chance came along, then I’d have to look more into it. The manager knows I want to play at the highest level possible, whenever that time comes then so be it. My time at Brentford has been good, probably one of the best times of my whole career.”
Toney then namedropped Arsenal and Liverpool as he grew up a fan of the latter.
“The next club I go to, if I was to move, would be the right club,” he added. “I’ve been a Liverpool fan my whole life, but from young I’ve liked Arsenal.
“I’ve liked watching Arsenal and how they play and how passionate their fans are. I’m a Liverpool boy at heart.”
Toney did not make his first Premier League start until he was 25, starting for Brentford against Arsenal on the first day of the 2021/22 campaign.
He did make two appearances in the English top flight during his time at Newcastle United, who signed Toney from Northampton Town for around £250,000 in August 2015.
Despite never being given a chance at St James’ Park, Toney says he understands the reasoning and has no hard feelings.
Newcastle are a great club, they have had some great players and are doing very well at the moment,” he said.
“But I feel like I didn’t really have a chance in the first team to prove if I was good enough. I feel personally, anyway.
At the time Newcastle were fighting to stay in the Premier League, when Rafa Benitez first came in, so it was kind of understandable they wanted these players to keep them up.
“You can’t put so much responsibility on young players to keep you up, but I feel like the following season, it was like could I get a sniff and then he brought his own players in and did his own kind of thing, which is just football.”
