Ivan Toney believes the investigation into his betting breaches was handled in a ‘spiteful’ way.
Toney has been banned for eight months after admitting 232 breaches of the FA’s betting rules over a four-year period.
News of the charges emerged just before Gareth Southgate named his World Cup squad, but the investigation did not conclude until near the end of the Premier League season.
“People try to break people down,” the 27-year-old told the Kick Game YouTube channel. “How it come out, just before the England camp, obviously missing out on the World Cup… In a way, it was kind of like: ‘get out now so you don’t go [away with] England’.
“And then all of a sudden they want to wait until the end of the season… But it is what it is. They wanted to do it that way. I call it a bit spiteful. You just have to get on with it.
“I feel that was a bigger punishment, even though I am missing eight months of football. That was a bigger punishment, missing out on the World Cup. It’s everybody’s dream. I believe in myself and hopefully I can be at the next one.”
“The club has actually been very helpful and supportive, everybody at the club,” he added. “Loads of footballers have messaged me as well. The sport is good.
“But how I am, I don’t want anybody to feel sorry for me. The punishment is the punishment, get on with it.
“I’ve just got to focus on training when I come back and being a different animal when I come back in the league. It’s going to be frightening.”
