John Toshack

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John Toshack
Personal information
Full name	John Benjamin Toshack
Date of birth	March 22, 1949 (age 58)
Place of birth	Cardiff, Wales
Nickname	Tosh
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Wales (Manager)
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1966-1970 1970-1978 1978-1984	Cardiff City Liverpool Swansea City	162 (74) 246 (96) 063 (25)
National team
1969-1980	Wales Under-23 Wales	004 0(?) 040 (12)
Teams managed
1978-1983 1983-1984[1] 1984-1985 1985-1989 1989-1990 1990-1994 1994 1995-1997 1997-1999 1999 2000-2001 2001-2002 2002-2003 2004 2004-	Swansea City Swansea City Sporting CP Real Sociedad Real Madrid Real Sociedad Wales Deportivo la Coruña Besiktas Real Madrid St. Etienne Real Sociedad Calcio Catania Real Murcia Wales
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

John Benjamin Toshack (born 22 March 1949) is a football manager and former player. He is the current manager of the Welsh national football team.

Contents 1 Life and playing career 1.1 Management career 1.2 Honours 1.2.1 As a player 1.2.2 As player/manager 1.2.3 As a manager 2 Notes and references 3 External links

[edit] Life and playing career

Born in Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales, Toshack started his footballing career with Cardiff City F.C., signing for them as a 16 year old. After four years at Cardiff City, he was signed by Bill Shankly for Liverpool F.C. on the 11 November 1970. Already a full international, Shankly paid £110,000 for the giant striker. 'Tosh' made his debut 3 days later on the 14th in the goalless league draw with Coventry City at Anfield. His first goal came a week later on the 21st in a remarkable Merseyside derby at Anfield. With the game 0-0 at half-time Everton thundered into a 2-0 lead just after the start of the second half. 69 minutes in Steve Heighway pulled a goal back, this seemed to spring the Reds into life, Toshack's goal in the 76th minute completely turned the game around, then when Chris Lawler prodded home the 84th minute winner the fans almost lifted the roof off the Kop. Toshack's goal instantly made him a hit amongst the Anfield faithful, which was a good thing as they had initially voiced their concerns in paying so much for the Welshman.

In 1971 a little known player by the name of Kevin Keegan joined the Reds from Scunthorpe United and the rest, as they say, is history. Toshack and Keegan struck up an almost telepathic partnership with 'Tosh' winning everything in the air and Keegan finishing the knock downs. They were a delight for commentators as their names rolled off the tongue easily, one famous piece of commentary by David Coleman went "Toshack, Keegan, one nil!" Such was their fame, the football magazine Shoot likened them to the comic book crimebusters Batman and Robin even taking a photograph of the pair dressed in the Dynamic Duo's costumes! By the time Keegan left for German side Hamburg SV he had scored exactly 100 goals with a great percentage of them being set up by Toshack.

During his time with Liverpool Toshack scored 96 goals, he was part of the team that won the Football League Championship in 1973, 1976 and 1977, the FA Cup in 1974, and the UEFA Cup in 1973 and 1976. He played for the Welsh national football team at schoolboy, under-23 and full international level earning 40 caps and scoring 12 goals, includig a hat trick against Scotland in the 1979 British Home Championship. However, his playing career was blighted by injuries and he was transferred to Swansea City A.F.C. as player-manager in 1978 (he already passed his coaching badge at the age of 18), where he succeeded Harry Griffiths.

[edit] Management career

He was an immediate success at the Vetch Field, taking them from the Fourth Division all the way to the First Division in four successive seasons. It was around this time that 'Tosh' received the OBE for his services to football.

In 1984, Toshack was appointed manager of the Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon, but he only lasted one season in the post. His most success as a manager has come in Spain, where he managed Real Madrid twice, Real Sociedad three times, Deportivo La Coruna and Real Murcia. He has also managed the Turkish side Beşiktaş J.K., French side AS Saint-Étienne and Italian side Catania. He was appointed manager of Wales for the first time in 1994, but only spent 41 days in the post, resigning after a 3-1 defeat to Norway. Despite this, he was appointed to the post for a second time in November 2004. This was greeted with scepticism by many Welsh fans, as Toshack had often spoken negatively about previous manager Mark Hughes' reign, despite Hughes having taken Wales to within one game of the European Championship. He is good friends with former Wales international and pundit Leighton James.

Tosh is still held in high regard by the supporters of Liverpool and was voted in at No.34 on the official Liverpool Football Club web-site poll 100 Players Who Shook The Kop, in which thousands of fans worldwide voted for their top 10 Liverpool players.

In Spain he is particularly well known for his bizarre 'philosophical' phrases during press conferences, translating stock phrases into Spanish that only make sense in the original English. Hay más posibilidades de ver a un cerdo volando por encima del Bernabéu ('you're more likely to see a pig flying over the Bernabéu'), and La Liga es el pan y la mantequilla y la nata es la Copa del Rey ('The League is the bread and butter and the Cup is the cream') have been enjoyed by the Spanish press over the years.EFE

[edit] Honours

[edit] As a player

• Welsh Cup: 1967, 1968, 1969
• Division 1 (Level 1): 1973, 1976, 1977
• UEFA Cup: 1973, 1976
• FA Cup: 1974; Runner-up: 1971
• Charity Shield: 1976; Runner-up: 1971
• European Super Cup: 1977

[edit] As player/manager

• Division 4 (Level 4): Third place (promoted) 1978
• Division 3 (Level 3): Third place (promoted) 1979
• Division 2 (Level 2): Third place (promoted) 1992
• Welsh Cup: 1981, 1982, 1983

[edit] As a manager

• Copa del Rey: 1987; Runner-up: 1988, 1990
• La Liga: 1990
• Supercopa de España: 1995
• Turkish Cup: 1998; Runner-up: 1999

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

• Official past players at Liverpoolfc.tv
• Player profile at LFChistory.net
• Football heroes part 1 at Sporting-heroes.net
• Football heroes part 2 Sporting-heroes.net
• Manager profile at squarefootball.net