Liverpool and Wales great John Toshack has been diagnosed with dementia, according to his son Cameron.
Toshack had a celebrated playing career with the Merseyside club, scoring 96 goals and winning nine trophies between 1970 and 1978, and earning 40 caps for Wales before turning to management, including roles with Real Sociedad, Real Madrid and his national team.
The 77-year-old’s son Cameron, who works as a football coach in Thailand and was formerly assistant manager at Leeds, told the Daily Mail that Toshack goes through good and bad days.
He said: “It’s a terrible disease. It’s the short-term memory where we’re seeing it – I speak to him most days and if we chat in the afternoon, he might not remember that we also spoke in the morning. But if I ask him about the Liverpool days, or Sociedad or Madrid, the detail is amazing.
“The other day he was telling me about a Real Madrid game against Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan and exactly how he tweaked his midfield to deal with Marco van Basten. The game could have been yesterday, his memory was so clear. I’ll talk to him about what we’re doing in Thailand and he still gives great advice. As a manager, he could always see two or three moves ahead, and it was always in the genes for me, really.”
Toshack began his career at his hometown club Cardiff before signing for Bill Shankly’s Liverpool, where he was part of squads that won three league titles, two Uefa Cups, an FA Cup and a European Cup.
In his first job in management, he took Swansea from the old fourth division to the top tier, and then took charge at Sporting in Portugal before moving to Spain. He won the Copa del Rey during one of three spells at Real Sociedad and twice managed Real Madrid, winning La Liga in 1990 with a record 107 goals scored. Toshack also coached in France, Turkey, Morocco, Azerbaijan and Macedonia and had two stints as Wales manager.
In his second spell, between 2004 and 2010, Toshack gave debuts to Aaron Ramsey, Gareth Bale and others who became mainstays of the side that reached the semi-finals of Euro 2016.
