The family of Liverpool and Wales legend John Toshack are embroiled in an escalating row over his dementia diagnosis.
John’s son Cameron told Daily Mail Sport this week that the football icon, who is now living in Spain with wife Mai Angulo, has been formally diagnosed with dementia.
When visited by Spanish reporters this week, John and his second wife Mai dismissed the claims.
But Cameron, a son from Toshack’s previous marriage, is adamant that his father’s diagnosis is official. The Thailand-based football coach told the Daily Mail his dad has ‘good days and bad days’ but can still recite entire line-ups from matches he contested and oversaw decades ago.
Wife Mai confessed to Spanish daily El Diario Vasco in an interview that Covid had left John with severe physical and mental after-effects, but claimed: ‘Cameron only knows what he talks about very occasionally on the phone with his father.
John and his second wife Mai dismissed the claims that he has been diagnosed with dementia
Thailand-based Cameron Toshack had spoken about his father’s ‘dementia battle’
‘He hasn’t seen him for two years. That’s why it really surprised me that he said this.’
John himself later rebutted the dementia claims of the 56-year-old current assistant coach at Thai League 1 club Buriram United.
Welcoming a reporter from Spain’s El Mundo into the home in Besalu in the Catalan province of Girona which he shares with Mai and their five dogs, the former Real Madrid and Real Sociedad manager insisted: ‘Dementia? Not yet!’
He joked: ‘I’ve forgotten all the goals I missed but I remember perfectly the ones I scored.’
El Mundo also published footage of the football legend, who played more than 200 matches with Cardiff City before winning nine trophies during an eight-year career with the Reds, reciting the famous team selection quote he made history with following a calamitous Real Madrid away match against Rayo Vallecano when he was managing the Spanish giants.
Laughing and looking relaxed in a Real Sociedad tracksuit as he sat in the sun, John said: ‘On Mondays I always think I’ll make ten changes to the team. On Tuesdays, seven or eight. By Thursday, it’s four. Friday two, and by Saturday I’m back to starting the same eleven bastards.’
El Mundo journalist Luis Nunez-Villaveiran, who published the footage on his Instagram, said: ‘John Toshack’s son said in an interview his father suffered dementia.
‘I’ve been with him and he maintains the spark he became known for in clubs like Real Madrid and Real Sociedad.’
He added: ‘The former manager takes advantage of a risotto and cheesecake lunch to tease his wife about things he doesn’t remember between glasses of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, and then wink at the guests before flashing another smile.’
Cameron, Toshack’s son from an earlier marriage to Susan Bann, had claimed in an interview with Daily Mail Sport earlier this week his dad was battling dementia – a claim supported privately on Friday by individuals who know John Toshack.
In his interview with Daily Mail Sport, Cameron Toshack had 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.’
Asked if it was a formal diagnosis of dementia, Cameron said: ‘Yes.’
Toshack lives in Girona at a home which he shares with wife Mai and their five dogs
Mai, Toshack’s wife of 33 years, reacted by saying: ‘John is very calm here. We celebrated his 77th birthday on Sunday, and he was very happy.’
Appearing to have another dig at his son as she admitted the former footballer’s Covid-19 2022 battle had been terrible, she told El Diario Vasco: ‘It is true that Covid left him with very severe after-effects, both physical and mental. Everyone has been able to notice this.
‘We cannot forget that we went through some terrible moments, with John sedated in an intensive care unit, not knowing how he would progress.
‘He always says that he was out of this world for more than ten days and that when, thank God, he came back, he didn’t understand anything.
‘He didn’t know what was happening to him or where he was. It wasn’t easy. I spent many days anxious because, except for John’s closest friends, no one showed interest, not even his family.’
In a message to her husband’s army of loyal fans, Mai said: ‘In his name, I want to send a hug to everyone.
‘The only thing I can say is that I am devoted to John so that he can have the best possible life. He is the love of my life, and I will never leave him.
‘Together we came through those terrible days, and together we will always remain in our home.’
