Ivan Toney’s alleged breaches of betting rules provide the high-profile evidence that more needs to be done to combat gambling issues in football, reckons former Reading boss Brian McDermott.
Brentford striker Toney, 26, was charged by the Football Association for 262 alleged breaches at the end of last year. The Bees hitman has yet to respond to the charges and would be likely to face a lengthy ban if the allegations were proven.
This week marked the launch of the Gambling Harm Prevention in Sport Review White Paper at Wembley, presented by EPIC Risk Management and UCFB's Global Institute of Sport (GIS).
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One of the document’s key recommendations is that any sporting organisation that enters into a new commercial partnership with a gambling operator should embed gambling harm education programmes into their contract to help inform and safeguard the individuals within their organisations.
McDermott, 61, was speaking at the London event alongside former midfielder Scott Davies, who played under him at Reading and whose career was crippled by a gambling addiction that saw him plummet down the leagues.
And asked about Toney’s situation, McDermott, who guided the Royals to the Premier League in 2012, said: “People can work at the top end of the game, and no one knows they have a problem, and I know that from experience.
“Managers will say they have an open door but generally players won’t go to the manager. The most important thing is a player speaks to someone to get help. An addiction is a very cunning thing, and it can be hidden.
“The most important thing is that we are talking, and we have got conversations going on. There’s a long way to go but we are talking about it, which is important.
“I talk about my story, my message – it’s not about me preaching. It’s about how I am in a good place today, and how I’ve got there.
“There are loads of scare stories out there. If you have a scare story and it remains to be a scare story, it’s not a strong message. A strong message has the scare stories, but you have come out the other side of it and now you have a recovery story.
“It’s really important to say if you have an addiction problem, there is a way out of it..
McDermott worked day in, day out on the training ground with Davies but remained oblivious to his troubles away from the pitch.
The Royals academy prospect looked set for a glittering career before gambling scuppered his hopes and saw him slide down the English football pyramid.
Davies quickly saw his problem spiral out of control and eventually ended up at Dunstable Town just three years after being released by McDermott.
Davies has been in recovery since 2015, returning to the game at non-League level with the likes of Oxford City and Slough Town before taking to the dugout with the Rebels in November last year.
Davies was speaking alongside EPIC Risk Management’s Pro Sport Advisory Board, which has been launched as the world’s first panel to investigate and act upon the risk of gambling harm affecting professional sports stars or eSports players.
And having now joined former boss McDermott as a manager, he is keen to take what he learned from his playing career into his time in charge.
The 34-year-old said: “For me, it’s about not just managing them as players but managing them through life.
“I am almost like a second father figure for some of these lads, especially the younger ones – we have got lads that are 18, 19 – I am 35 next month.
“I don’t just want them to be good footballers, I want them to be good people. I am very lucky that I have the opportunity and I want to be more than just a good football manager, I want to be a good person to these players.
“I have got a fantastic relationship with Brian now, and he always says to me I wish you would have said something. To try and break that mould of no one saying something, for me to be the first one, it seemed nigh on impossible.
“We are making small steps, it is never going to be fixed completely, but we can make it better.”
Gambling Harm Prevention in Sport Summit, presented by EPIC Risk Management and UCFB's Global Institute of Sport (GIS)
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