Ivan Toney’s return to Premier League action for Brentford was always going to provoke plenty of emotion - even for someone with the unwavering and unmistakable composure of the Bees centre-forward.

But, as Toney lined up in the tunnel at Gtech Community Stadium, ready to lead the team out as captain against Nottingham Forest, you’d think he was just about to step out into the garden for a kickabout with his boy.

A quick conversation with referee Darren England, a high-five with substitute Myles Peart-Harris, and an arm around the shoulder of the mascot beside him followed the conclusion of The Undertaker’s famous walk-out song unusually remixed with Hey Jude - it was Toney's time.

Peter Gilham’s roar coincided with Toney stepping over the white line and on to the pitch at the Gtech, as the Brentford supporters applauded the return of their no.17.

Any nerves at all? He shakes his head: "Nope, it was just excitement. I just wanted the whistle to go and to be involved.”

But, from all the feelings that Toney could have prepared for and anticipated experiencing during that Saturday afternoon in late January, déjà vu probably wasn’t one of them.

However, as he stood over a free-kick, with the Forest fans waving (or doing a similar gesture) at him, and Danilo and Ryan Yates lining up in front of the goal at the east stand, his mind would have flashed back to a moment 266 days, 1 hour and 9 minutes earlier - his last Premier League goal.

Yes, the free-kick was about 10 yards further out, Bryan Mbeumo wasn’t reassuringly standing next to him, it was Matt Turner rather than Keylor Navas nervously looking around his wall, and Forest had changed from a bright yellow strip to an even more questionable navy and orange one; but, most importantly, the outcome was the same.

Toney whipped the set-piece into the bottom-right corner to a deafening reaction from the home fans. But, even then, he was unflappable. Asked what he was thinking as he stepped up to the ball, he says: "Just, ‘I'm scoring’. That was my time to shine.”

There was some slight controversy about Toney’s actions before the goal, as the referee’s spray to indicate where the free-kick should be taken vanished from the original spot and reappeared a few inches to the right.

But the Bees man dismissed some people’s claims that the goal shouldn’t have stood: “[The reaction] was silly. Lionel Messi does it and he’s a genius; Ivan Toney does it and he’s a cheat...”

Toney also played a big part in Brentford’s winning goal that night, as he held the ball up and switched it across to Mads Roerslev, who sent a cross into Neal Maupay, before the striker controlled, swivelled and volleyed into the back of the net.

It was Toney who picked up Sky Sports’ Player of the Match award but, when asked if he was satisfied with his performance, his response isn’t emphatic: “Yes and no - I wanted two goals! Towards the end, I probably could have got another one, but the game swung both ways.

“The main thing was to win, we had to win. I did everything I could to make sure we won that game.”

Discussing what the reaction was like after the game, he adds: “It was nice to see that people were just proud of me, because there were a lot of people that thought I was going to come back and just crumble and not do what I did.

“When I got home, I was just knackered. It was quite an overwhelming day.

“But it's only one game, so I need to continue that and keep going for the rest of the season.”

That Forest game was Toney's first back since 6 May 2023, after he was banned from all football activity for eight months for breaching Football Association betting rules.

It’s something he doesn’t want to dwell on - that was the past, the future is what’s important.

“Whatever happened was behind me,” he says. “I could either sulk and let it affect me, or I could concentrate on football and just do what I do.

“I was always going to come back stronger - that’s just the mentality I have.

“I obviously missed being out on the pitch, but also being in the dressing room, the banter, being around the boys, everything. You can't replicate that environment.

“When it’s taken from you, you miss it that much more.”

Toney had played in multiple behind-closed-doors games during the second half of his suspension, but admits that they “weren’t quite the same”. The attacker scored a hat-trick in a fixture against Southampton Under-23s, as well as a cheeky Panenka penalty versus Danish side Brøndby, with his highlights from those games going viral across social media.

That was when it became quite clear that, without even kicking a football, Toney had become one of the most talked about footballers in the world.

Admittedly, before that, he was rightly heralded has one of the top bagsman in the country, which came from him scoring 20 Premier League goals in 33 appearances during the 2022/23 campaign, as well as receiving his first England cap.

A last-minute winner against champions Manchester City - a day after he wasn’t included in the Three Lions’ squad for the 2022 World Cup - was one of his standout moments from last term: “There was a lot of talk before that game, but I kept on doing my thing when I had the chance.

“And then I scored the winner against City; it doesn’t get much better than that. Scoring two goals and helping the team beat the champions - that's some doing.”

But it’s not just his potency from open play that has impressed - his penalty record and typical tranquil, Toney-style technique is subject to even more fascination.

A run-up that is based on staring down the opposition goalkeeper, waiting for him to make his move, before putting it in the other corner has seen him superbly take 24 penalties and score… 23?

Newcastle keeper and England team-mate Nick Pope saved his spot-kick with the score at 0-0, so his answer from a previous Long Read - “I think probably the only way I could miss is if I kick it wide” - is put to him.

Toney is quick to defend himself: “That’s still true! The only way I’ll miss a penalty is if I put it wide... but on that one, the ball actually moved, and there is a video of it - if you want to see it, I can get it up right now!

“The way I take my penalties, I don’t look at the ball. So, I’m looking at the keeper and, in my peripheral vision, I can see the ball has moved off the spot.

“The referee had already blown his whistle and I didn’t know the rules, I didn’t know if I could move it again; I found out after that I could.”

Toney soon had the opportunity to make amends when, with the game still goalless, the referee pointed to the spot again.

Asked if he was overthinking the second one at all, he adds: “I was and I wasn’t. I kind of did want a penalty in that game to try and redeem myself, but I also thought, ‘Imagine if I missed two in one game’, when I hadn’t missed one in however long! Especially against Newcastle, the team I used to play for.

“I scored it, but we lost the game so it was pretty much pointless.”

Rather than the headlines being ‘Brentford 1 Newcastle United 2’ the next day, they were ‘Ivan Toney misses first penalty in five years’ - and the Toney-centric stories have only intensified.

Media outlets across the country were fascinated as to how one of the division’s most talismanic figures would return to action after eight months away - Toney’s face was everywhere you looked and his name was everywhere you listened.

You couldn’t even take a Toney-free stroll down Brentford high street, with electronic billboards near Kew Bridge appearing the week before the game donning the striker’s celebration and the words, ‘He’s back’. The club and Toney had no involvement in that: “Are you asking me if I paid to put my own billboard up?! No, no, no,” he laughs.

Interest in Toney had gone way beyond west London, however.

An appearance on Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast, which is currently on 1.7 million views on YouTube, and a mention in Dave and Central Cee’s song Our 25th Birthday (“I was away when that came out; one of my boys messaged me and told me that I was mentioned. He’s probably one of the best rappers in the world”) were evidence that the Brentford fan was becoming somewhat of a superstar.

Unsurprisingly, unlike most people, these things have not fazed the 27-year-old one bit: “I take everything in my stride. I could win the lottery and I’d take it in my stride.”

He adds: “It was expected. Not in a cocky way, but I expected it because everyone was intrigued to see how I'd come back.

"When I was 21 or 22, I probably would have enjoyed that sort of thing much more, but I'm getting older now and those kinds of things don’t really excite me.

“People want to talk about whatever they want to talk about, people have their own opinions, but it was just up to me to make sure I do my thing when I’m on the pitch.”

As established, Toney's "thing" is putting the ball in the back of the net - and, worryingly for opposition defences, during his time out, as well as spending valuable time with his family, he worked on sharpening his finishing.

He made trips to America to improve his goalscoring exploits with former England attack coach Allan Russell, who also has an online coaching brand Superior Striker, alongside Bob Jeffrey, director of goalkeeping at the Tennessee Soccer Club.

“We worked on where on the pitch will give you the highest percentage chance of scoring,” Toney reveals.

“And just continuously hitting the corners, regardless of if there’s a keeper in goal - just hit it as far as you can in the corner and the sides of the goal - that's the best chance you’ve got to score.

“Sometimes I take chances for granted. I’ll think it’s an easy chance and I’ll end up doing something I wouldn’t normally do and mess it up. That’s something I need to change.”

Toney’s hunger to keep getting better is what saw him better his tally from his first season in the top flight by eight goals - and that 2021/22 campaign taught him plenty of valuable lessons.

He states: “I’ve realised that you’re playing against the best so, if you get a chance, you have to take it - and they don’t come around too often!

“Even if you get half a chance, turn it into a full chance and put it in the back of the net. The more you can do that, the more deadly you are and the more goals you get.

“When I was at Wigan, my team-mate Noel Hunt said a striker needs five half chances to score one goal - that's all you need.”

He adds: “At the end of the day, you're going to miss chances, it's normal to miss chances. I had these chats with Bryan last season: we all beat ourselves up over certain things but, especially as a striker, if you beat yourself up for too long, you're not going to be ready for the next chance.

“And when the next chance comes your way, if you’re still focusing on the chance you missed, you’re not going to finish this one.

“As soon as I miss a chance, I just think, ‘There’s nothing I can do about it, now I’ll be ready for the next one and make up for that.'”

It wasn’t just the Premier League’s goals chart that Toney was right near the top of; he was also the most fouled forward in the divison last season, but also top of the 'fouls committed’ tally, too.

"Maybe defenders are targeting me,” Toney smirks when asked why that might be. “But that's just my game, being rough, and obviously the defenders are going to give it back. You’ve just got to be ready for it.

“That’s the way I want to play... unless it's cold! Because when defenders step on your toes when it’s like that, there’s nothing more painful.

“I'm kind of that player that gets stuck in and I'll do all the rough bits for the other strikers and just let them have the easier game. I’ll look after the other players.”

One of those other players is Maupay, who, as mentioned earlier, netted the winner against Forest, which is one of five goals he’s scored in his last seven games.

And, just as much as the Brentford supporters are loving watching the duo, Toney is really enjoying playing and causing some mischief alongside the Frenchman, who returned to the club at the start of the season after four years away.

“It's good to play next to a striker that knows your game, and I feel like Neal knows that already,” Toney says. “I’m just buzzing for him to get his goals recently because he deserves it.

“Playing up front with him is interesting! We both know what we need to do to win - and we both know what we need to do to rattle people, to get in people's heads, and to help win games, so I'm sure you’ll see a lot of that when we get together.”

Maupay has filled the hole in the Brentford attack left by one of Toney’s other strike partners, Mbeumo, who has been out since early December with an ankle injury.

And, as he discusses his relationship with the Cameroon international, it is clear to see that Toney can’t wait to have his mate back in the squad.

"When we first started playing together, it was quite an immediate connection,” Toney recalls. “I watched him before I joined the club and, with strike partners, sometimes you just know.

“We're different strikers, so I'll get stuck in for him and put him in behind, and he knows that when I get the ball, he just has to make the run in behind because I'll find him.

“We just clicked straight away. He's a nice person as well, we can be around each other and chill, it's not just an in-work thing.

“He's like a little son! I take him under my wing and get him plenty of goals.”

But does a good relationship off the pitch help with performances on it?

“For myself, definitely,” Toney confirms. “Because, on the pitch, I'm probably the angriest man to be playing with: I'll scream and shout at you, but, after the game, obviously you’re my friend again, so that’s good to know!”

Talk now turns to the Three Lions. Asked about Euro 2024 this summer, Toney states: “That’s the goal. But I don’t know what’s going to happen between now and then. I just have to make sure I’m playing well, scoring goals, and who knows what will happen.

“My England debut was a dream come true, but I don’t want it to be me dipping in and dipping out. I want it to be a continuous thing and a long-time thing.

“Hopefully, I can get in the squad and contribute a lot more.”

In a bid to finally find something to faze the forward (in a footballing sense, anyway; Toney admits the birth of his children is a moment even he couldn’t mentally prepare for), a scenario is posed to him.

You’re to step up and take the deciding penalty in a shootout in the final of Euro 2024 - how do you feel?

“Just excitement,” he grins. “I’d love to take a penalty in that scenario.”

It’s official: Ivan Toney is the coolest man on the planet.