HE LIKES TO MOVE, MOVE
Figuratively speaking, you suspect that Ivan Toney was behind himself to score against Nottingham Forest on Saturday. Considering he returned from an eight-month spell at the Naughty Step after pleading guilty to 232 charges of breaching the FA Betting Rules, it’s probably safe to assume that not even anyone would be foolish enough to do such a thing. n clearly stated and potentially career breaking. Since the malicious rule literally backed itself to score cold hard cash, it’s probably safe to assume that many other gamblers were involved.
In the build-up to his comeback, Toney, his manager and a number of his teammates had all made it clear that the Brentford striker was a footballer with something to prove. A point to prove to the haterz, to the draconian brats at the FA, to the Brentford fans, to England manager Gareth Southgate, to the recruitment departments of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United, and perhaps most importantly, to himself. Before his return, Toney showed few signs of rust in the warm-up games, showing he still has a keen eye for goal as he scored a hat-trick in a low-key kickabout for Brentford B against Southampton U-12s. But on a weekend with few top matches, there was always a good chance he would end up in the spotlight from the moment he pulled on his red and white striped shirt with the eye-catching advertisement for a South African betting company plastered on it. front side.
Related: Nottingham Forest writes to Premier League and PGMOL about Toney’s goal
Considering the captaincy on the day, things could hardly have gone better as he played a crucial role in helping Brentford win their first game after five consecutive league defeats. As if wandering around and generally making a nuisance of himself while creating a number of chances that went unconverted by teammates wasn’t enough of a re-introduction after such a long absence, the highlight of his performance came in the form of a clever free-kick. that proved that his brain is certainly match fit, even if the rest of his body clearly still has some catching up to do. “It means a lot,” the visibly shaken player told Sky Sports when asked how it felt to be back. “It’s been a long time. I manifested this [the goal], around the time I was gone. I am here now and I would like to score goals and win with the team again. Before the match, before I left my house, I thought: ‘Yes, we win today and I will score’.”
Before placing his free-kick from just outside the penalty area into the gaping hole to the left of one side of Forest’s poorly positioned defensive wall, Toney had moved both the ball and the referee’s magic foam, indicating where the ball had hit a foot or had to be more. the right to give himself a slightly better angle from which to shoot. It’s a bit like lighting a big campfire in your garden: no one seems quite sure whether what they were doing was illegal, but it was telling that no one in a Forest shirt at the time uttered a murmur of complaint, either either because they didn’t care, or because they were too busy failing in their collective defensive duties to shuffle the same distance to the left to negate any small advantage Toney might have given himself.
However, boss Nuno Espírito Santo had a complaint about it after the match and the club has since written a stern and almost certainly pointless letter of complaint to the Professional Game Match Officials Board Limited (PGMOL) asking whether what Toney did was an infringement. play. Given the near-universal lack of clarity provided by several former referees-turned-pundits over the past two days, they could be in for a very long wait for an answer.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“If someone wants to break into your house, you don’t come to an agreement with the person who wants to rob it. [Florentino Pérez’s] The aim is for the big clubs, those who are the richest and with the greatest assets, to be able to run football in Europe. And that the rest are just vassals, who should be happy with whatever they get.” – La Liga Chief Prosecutor Javier Tebas talks to Nick Ames about his ongoing feud with Real Madrid’s infamous president, the idea of a European Super League and why financial mismanagement is ruining the game.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
As for Steven Gerrard’s new contract at Al-Ettifaq, it may not be deserved by his results so far, but it does serve a useful purpose: it prevents him from being linked with managerial vacancies in the top two divisions in England and the Scottish top flight of the men’s game, and possibly the WSL. That sound you can hear is supporters across the country breathing a collective sigh of relief. I knew that if we waited long enough, we would find something about the Saudi Pro League that would benefit the sport of football as a whole” – Ed Taylor.
Some fans think Scott Twine’s recent move from Burnley to Bristol City will inevitably unravel” – Mick Beeby.
As a Watford fan (yes, there are some long-suffering ones out there), I was surprised when Troy went to FGR as a player-coach, bearing in mind he wasn’t the least bit interested in coaching when this was mentioned when he was in Watford. Suddenly he became the manager, which was even more of a shock. The irony of all this chopping and changing of managers at the club is that it was Deeney’s old club, Watford, who poached Rob Edwards (dare I use that word) shortly after FGR won promotion, only to stupidly sack him in the 10th competition. games in the season. Since then, FGR has gone down the drain and Dale Vince is a joke. He seems to find it difficult to choose an experienced person to lead his club. What goes around goes around (or is it the other way around?)” – Geoff Hall.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. The winner of today’s newsletter is… Ed Taylor, who will scoop a copy of A Culture of Kits, published by Pitch Publishing and available for purchase in early February. To pre-order a copy, visit their football bookstore here.
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