The picture that emerged of England striker Ivan Toney on Friday when the written reasons for his eight-month ban from football were released by the FA was of a man in thrall to an illness, an illness fed and watered by the sport that has exiled him.
Toney deserved to be punished for his 232 breaches of gambling regulations and the details of the offences he committed shone a light on a seamy football sub-culture of deracinated young men awash with disposable income and free time, bombarded by betting adverts, ripe for exploitation.