Kolo Toure suspended

News that I'm sure you're all aware of by now:

Manchester City confirm that the FA has informed Kolo Toure that an 'A-sample' provided by him has tested positive for a specified substance.

As result of this, he has been suspended from participating in all first team and non-first team matches pending the outcome of the legal process.

There will be no further comment from the football club at this stage.

Obviously the club are remaining tight-lipped over this at present and there is of course no confirmation as to what the 'specified substance' actually is.

Toure will now have to wait until the results from the B-sample (a 'fail safe' mechanism that is in place to safeguard against error), but as reported in The Guardian, if the B-sample confirms the intial results then Toure could face anything up to a two-year ban - even if it was a substance taken unwittingly.

More on the story on SBNation's soccer homepage here, whilst the Twitter feed of Sporting Intelligence has links to the recent history of bans handed out for failed tests.