by He likes to move it, move it
Figuratively, at least, a suspect Ivan Toney backed himself to score against Nottingham Forest on Saturday. Considering he was returning from an eight-month spell on the Naughty Stage after pleading guilty to 232 charges of breaching the FA’s betting regulations, it’s probably safe to assume that someone foolish enough to break a career as obvious as it could be. A bad rule literally backed itself to score with cold hard cash, it’s probably safe to assume that plenty of other punters were involved.
On his return, it was clear to Toney, his manager and many of his teammates that the Brentford attacker was a footballer with a point to prove. A point to prove to the haterz, to the FA’s sneering mouths, to the Brentford fans, to England manager Gareth Southgate, to the Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United recruitment departments, and perhaps most importantly, to himself. Prior to his return, Toney had shown few signs of rust in warm-up games, showing he still has an eye for goal as he hit a hat-trick with a low penalty for Brentford B against Southampton U-12s . But on a weekend that featured some classy dressing, he looked set to be in the limelight from the moment he pulled on his red-and-white striped shirt to plaster his eye-catching advert for a South African betting firm. across the front.
Related: Nottingham Forest write to the Premier League and PGMOL over Toney’s goal
For the captaincy of the day, things could hardly have gone any better as he played a vital role in helping Brentford win their first game after five league wins in a row. As if it wasn’t decent enough to recover as he made a nuisance of himself and created a number of chances that his teammates couldn’t after being out for so long, the highlight of his performance came in the form of a clever free-kick . which proved that his brain is definitely fit even if the rest of his body obviously still has some catching up to do. “It means a lot,” the devastated player told Sky Sports when asked how it felt to be back. “It’s been a long time coming. I showed this [the goal], around the time I was out. I’m here now, and I’m buzzing to be back scoring goals and winning with the team. Before the game, before I left my house, I thought, ‘Yes, we are winning today and I am scoring’.”
Before firing his free-kick just outside the penalty area into the gaping hole left by one side of Forest’s ill-placed defensive wall, Toney had moved the ball and the referee’s magic foam indicated where to for the ball to be a foot or more. the right to give himself a slightly better angle for his shoot. Like lighting a bonfire in your garden, no one is quite sure what he did was illegal but it was said that no one in a Forest shirt spoke up at the time, either because they didn’t care or they were too big. busy failing to fulfill their collective defensive duties the same distance to the left that shuffles to cancel any small advantage that Toney might have.
However, Forest boss Nuno Espírito Santo moaned about it after the game and the club has almost certainly written a scathing letter of complaint to the Professional Game Match Officers Board Limited (PGMOL) asking if Toney was untruthful. play. Given the almost universal lack of clarity offered by the various post-reviews over the past two days, they may be waiting for an answer for a very long time.
LIVE ON A BIG WEBSITE
Join John Brewin for a special Monday night back-to-back, starting with goal updates on Guinea Bissau v Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea v Ivory Coast in Afcon (5pm GMT) followed by all the key action from Brighton v Wolves (7.45pm) in the Premier League and the Championship final between Leicester and Ipswich at 8pm.
STATEMENT OF THE DAY
“When someone is trying to break into your house you are not going to come to an agreement with the person who is trying to steal it. [Florentino Pérez’s] The goal is that the big clubs, those who are the richest and have the most assets, can run football in Europe. And that the rest are just vassals, who should be content with whatever is given to them” – La Liga’s main suitor Javier Tebas talks to Nick Ames about his ongoing beef with Real Madrid’s famous president, the idea of a Super League European and why financial mismanagement is ruining the game.
DAILY FOOTBALL LETTERS
As for the subject of Steven Gerrard’s new contract at Al-Ettifaq, his results so far may not have merited it but it serves a useful purpose: he will stop being linked with any managerial vacancies from England’s top two divisions and the top flight Scotland of the men’s game, and possibly the WSL as well. That sound you’ll hear is supporters across the country heaving a collective sigh of relief. I knew if we waited long enough we would find something about the Saudi Pro League that benefited the game of football as a whole” – Ed Taylor.
Some fans think Scott Twine’s recent move from Burnley to Bristol City will be a big change” – Mick Beeby.
As a Watford fan (yes, some of us long suffering fans), I was surprised when Troy went to FGR as a player-coach, considering they weren’t the least bit interested in coaching when he was mentioned . was in Watford. Suddenly, he became the manager and that was even more terrifying. The irony of this contraction and change of managers at the club is that it was Deeney’s old club, Watford, who poached (may I use that word) Rob Edwards soon after FGR went up to graduate, with only 10 leagues to spare. Games in the season. Since then FGR has gone downhill and Dale Vince is a laughingstock. He seems to find it difficult to choose someone with experience to manage his club. What goes around goes around (or is it the other way around?)” – Geoff Hall.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s letter winner is … Ed Taylor, who offers a copy of A Culture of Kits, published by Pitch Publishing and out for purchase in early February. Visit their football bookshop here to order a copy.
This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.
