Due to betting violations, the Brentford striker received an eight-month suspension.
Ivan Toney alleges that the Football Association "was a little bit spiteful" in how it handled the striker's eight-month suspension for violating betting laws.
Toney was charged with 262 violations in November of last year, but it took the FA until May to announce his suspension and £50,000 punishment after he had pleaded guilty to 232 of the offences.
The 27-year-old was left out of Gareth Southgate's Qatar 2022 World Cup team, ending his "dream" of competing in the tournament. He accepts his punishment, but he thinks the timing of the accusations' public disclosure was unfair.
"It came out just before the England camp," Toney told Kick Game. I obviously missed both the World Cup and that. That would have been my greatest fantasy, to be honest.
"They wanted to wait until the end of the season (to announce the punishment), but it was like, get it out now so he doesn't go with England.
If they choose to do it that way, that is what it is. Although I think it's a little bit spiteful, it is what it is.
"I believed that was a harsher penalty. Even though I'm currently missing eight months of football, I feel as though losing out on the World Cup, which is everyone's dream, was a worse punishment.
Toney broke FA Rule E8, which forbids all participants from betting on football, during the course of five seasons, from February 25, 2017, to January 23, 2021.
The forward placed 13 wagers for his own team to lose in seven different games during the 2017–18 season, 11 of which were against Newcastle when he was on loan from the club. This information was made public by the FA.
Aston Villa and Wigan were the subject of two additional wagers, but Toney, who was on loan at Wigan at the time, was not a member of the matchday squad.
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