Newcastle United takeover lawyer reveals his ‘concern’ after high-profile case

Nick De Marco has broken his silence on Ivan Toney’s gambling ban.

De Marco – who represented then-Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley as he tried to push through a sale of the club in 2019 to a consortium led by Amanda Staveley – represented Toney in his Football Association disciplinary hearing.

Brentford and England striker Toney was banned from football for eight months after admitting 232 breaches of betting rules.

The FA revealed that the 27-year-od had placed 13 bets on his own team to lose in seven different matches during the 2017/18 season, 11 of these bets were against Newcastle when he was out on loan away from the club.

De Marco has now revealed his “concern” about the Toney case in a statement issued on Twitter.

“It was my privilege to represent Ivan Toney in the recent FA betting case,” said De Marco. “Ivan is a great homegrown player who I’m sure will continue to have the most incredible future, he’s also a really nice guy.

“I continue to be concerned about the huge contradiction in football – with gambling companies being the biggest sponsors of the sport, players required to advertise betting on football, despite widespread evidence of gambling addiction in society, and yet the FA’s focus is on punishing players, who have often not been given good education about betting rules, and grow up in a betting environment, and who often end up being punished for bets made many many years ago. 

“The rules are of course the rules, and I make no criticism of the careful and considered decision of the Commission in the Toney case, which rejected the FA’s request to ban Ivan for far far longer, but I do think we need to look more widely at the role of betting in football, the nature of the rules, & education & assistance for players.”

'Spiteful'

Toney – who missed out on a place in the England squad for last year's World Cup because of the charges – gave his view on the ban earlier this month.

Toney told Kick Game: “I call it a bit spiteful, but it is what it is.

“Even now I’m missing eight months of football, I feel that was a bigger punishment, missing out on the World Cup, everybody’s dream, to missing eight months of football.”