HE LIKES TO MOVE IT, MOVE IT
Figuratively, at least, one suspects Ivan Toney backed himself to score against Nottingham Forest on Saturday. Considering he was making his return from an eight-month spell on the Naughty Step after pleading guilty to 232 charges of breaching FA betting regulations, it is probably safe to assume that not even somebody foolish enough to break such a clearly signposted and potentially career-damaging rule literally backed himself to score with cold hard cash, it is probably safe to assume that plenty of other punters got involved.
In the buildup to his comeback, Toney, his manager and several of his teammates had all made it clear that the Brentford striker was a footballer with a point to prove. A point to prove to the haterz, to the draconian beaks at the FA, to Brentford’s fans, to England manager Gareth Southgate, to the Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United recruitment departments, and perhaps most importantly of all, to himself. Before his return, Toney had shown few signs of rustiness in warm-up games, demonstrating that he still has a keen eye for goal as he banged in a hat-trick in a low-key kickabout for Brentford B against Southampton U-12s. But on a weekend of few top-flight fixtures, he was always likely to end up in the spotlight from the moment he pulled on his red-and-white striped shirt with its eye-catching advert for a South African betting firm plastered across the front.
Given the captaincy for the day, things could scarcely have gone better as he played a crucial role in helping Brentford win their first game after five consecutive league defeats. As if gadding about and generally making a nuisance of himself while creating a number of chances that went unconverted by teammates wasn’t a decent enough of reintroduction after so long out, the highlight of his performance came in the form of a clever free-kick that proved 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 shattered player told Sky Sports upon being asked how it felt to be back. “It’s been a long time coming. I manifested this [the goal], around the time I was out. I’m here now, and I’m just buzzing to be back scoring goals and winning with the team. Before the game, before I left my house, I thought, ‘Yeah, we’re winning today and I’m scoring’.”
Prior to slotting his free-kick from just outside the penalty area into the gaping hole left at one end of Forest’s poorly positioned defensive wall, Toney had moved both the ball and the referee’s magic foam indicating where the ball should be a foot or more to the right to give himself a marginally better angle from which to shoot. A bit like lighting a big bonfire in your garden, nobody seems quite sure if what he did was illegal but it was telling that nobody in a Forest shirt uttered a murmur of complaint at the time, either because they didn’t care or were too busy failing to attend to their collective defensive duties to shuffle the same distance to their left in order to cancel out any small advantage Toney might have given himself.
Forest boss Nuno Espírito Santo did, however, have a moan about it after the game and the club have since written a stern and almost certainly pointless letter of complaint to the Professional Game Match Officials Board Limited (PGMOL) asking if what Toney did constituted foul play. Given the almost universal lack of clarity offered by various former refs-turned-pundits in the past two days, they might be waiting a very long time for a reply.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“When somebody wants to break into your house you’re not going to come to a consensus with the person that wants to rob it. [Florentino Pérez’s] goal is that the big clubs, those who are richest and have the biggest assets, can run football in Europe. And that the rest are just vassals, who should be happy with whatever they are given” – Javier Tebas, La Liga’s chief suit, talks to Nick Ames about his ongoing beef with the infamous Real Madrid president, the idea of a European Super League and why financial mismanagement is ruining the game.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
On the subject of Steven Gerrard’s new contract at Al-Ettifaq, it may not have been earned by his results so far but it does serve a useful purpose: it will stop him being linked with any managerial vacancies from the top two divisions in England and the Scottish top flight of the men’s game, and possibly the WSL as well. That sound you can hear is supporters up and down the country breathing a collective sigh of relief. I knew if we waited long enough we’d find something about the Saudi Pro League that benefitted the game of football as a whole” – Ed Taylor.
Some fans think that Scott Twine’s recent move from Burnley to Bristol City is bound to unravel” – Mick Beeby.
As a Watford fan (yes, there are a few of us long-suffering fans), I was astonished when Troy went to FGR as a player-coach, bearing in mind he was not the least interested in coaching when it was mentioned whilst he was at 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 (am I allowed to use that word) Rob Edwards soon after FGR had won promotion, only to stupidly sack him 10 league games into the season. Since then FGR have gone down the pan and Dale Vince is a laughing stock. He seems to find it difficult to choose an experienced person to manage his club. What comes around goes around (or is it the other way?)“ – Geoff Hall.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Ed Taylor, who lands a copy of A Culture of Kits, published by Pitch Publishing and out to buy in early February. Visit their football book store here to pre-order a copy.
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