John Toshack denies he has dementia after ‘falling asleep crying’ over son’s comments | Football | Sport
John Toshack says he is not suffering from dementia (Image: GETTY)
Welsh football icon John Toshack has rejected suggestions he is battling dementia. In an interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo, John said: “Dementia? Not yet! I’ve forgotten all the goals I missed, but I remember perfectly the ones I scored.”
Toshack’s wife, Mai Angulo, previously revealed she was astonished by comments made by Toshack’s son Cameron regarding his father and stated: “He fell asleep at two in the morning crying,” referring to the distress triggered by his eldest son’s remarks.
Cameron addressed Toshack’s condition in a conversation with the Daily Mail, indicating his father has ‘good days and bad days.’ Cameron said in the interview that John had been diagnosed with dementia.
“Cameron only knows what he talks about very occasionally on the phone with his father,” Angulo told Spanish daily El Diario Vasco.
“He hasn’t seen him for two years. That’s why it really surprised me that he said this.”
Currently serving as the Buriram United assistant manager in Thailand, Cameron noted that his father can still recollect entire line-ups from fixtures he participated in decades ago.
“It’s [dementia is] a terrible disease,” he said. “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 Saachi’s AC 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.
Toshack’s son recently claimed that his father had received a diagnosis (Image: GETTY)
“As a manager, he could always see two or three moves ahead, and it was always in the genes for me, really.”
Toshack was a prominent figure during his playing career, signing for Liverpool in 1970 in a £100,000 transfer from Cardiff City.
Throughout his spell at Anfield, he won nine trophies, including three First Division titles and a European Cup.
He subsequently spent six years at Swansea City as a player-manager before transitioning entirely into coaching.
Toshack proceeded to manage some of Europe’s most prestigious clubs, including Real Madrid, Sporting Clube de Portugal, Real Sociedad, Deportivo La Coruna, Besiktas and Saint-Etienne.
In Madrid, he secured the La Liga title in 1990 before subsequently managing Wales on two separate occasions. The first instance was on a part-time basis in 1994, and then once more from 2004 to 2010.
Throughout that second period, he assisted in developing future stars such as Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen.
In recent years, he has encountered serious health challenges, having been rushed into intensive care in 2022 while battling pneumonia caused by Covid-related complications.
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