Jon Cameron Toshack (born 7 March 1970) is a Welsh professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

. Toshack currently serves as coaching assistant to

Jesse Marsch Jesse Alan Marsch (born November 8, 1973) is an American professional soccer coach and former player who is the current head coach of club Leeds United. Marsch played 14 seasons as a midfielder in Major League Soccer (MLS) with D.C. United, ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

. Toshack is the son of former

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

manager

John Toshack John Benjamin Toshack (born 22 March 1949) is a Welsh former professional football player and manager. He began his playing career as a teenager with his hometown club Cardiff City, becoming the youngest player to make an appearance for th ...

. After a brief playing career, Toshack began coaching the

Macedonia national football team The North Macedonia national football team ( mk, Фудбалска репрезентација на Северна Македонија, Fudbalska reprezentacija na Severna Makedonija) represents North Macedonia in men's international footbal ...

in 2011, alongside his father. He then joined Swansea City as a youth coach, winning the 2017 Premier League Cup, before making his first-team managerial debut with Cyprus club Pafos FC in 2019.

Playing career

Toshack began his career with spells at

and

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

without making an appearance for either side. In February 1991, he joined

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

and made three appearances as a substitute before being handed his first start in a defeat by

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

. In 1991, at the age of 21, Toshack was diagnosed with

Type 1 Diabetes Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that originates when cells that make insulin (beta cells) are destroyed by the immune system. Insulin is a hormone required for the cells to use blood sugar for ...

, meaning the physical demands of professional sport became increasingly challenging. At the end of the 1991–92 season, Toshack was released by the club having made five league appearances. He instead moved into

non-League football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

with Weymouth, scoring the winning goal on his debut on 19 December 1992 during a 2–1 win against

Halesowen Town Halesowen Town Football Club is a football club based in Halesowen, West Midlands, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Grove Recreation Ground. History The club was believed to have been established around 1873, but rece ...

. He made another six appearances for the club, scoring one more goal during a 3–0 victory over

Bridport Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and withi ...

in the

Dorset Senior Cup The Dorset Senior Cup is a knockout cup competition involving association football teams from the county of Dorset, England, affiliated with the Dorset County Football Association. The current holders of the Dorset Senior Cup are Poole Town who ...

Coaching career

Macedonia

In 2011, Toshack joined his father at Macedonia as assistant manager for their 2012 UEFA Euro qualifying campaign. The team made a notable improvement, rising from 103 to 81 in the

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

world rankings, underlined by a 0–0 friendly away draw with

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Swansea City

On 15 October 2013, Toshack took up a coaching position at

. While

Michael Laudrup Michael Laudrup (, born 15 June 1964) is a Danish professional football coach and former player. He is considered to be one of the greatest players of all time. He is the older brother of fellow retired footballer Brian Laudrup. During his pl ...

was first-team manager, Toshack took the reins of the academy role following the departure of

Tony Pennock Anthony Pennock (born 10 April 1971 in Swansea) is a Welsh football coach and former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently manager of Cymru Premier side Haverfordwest County. Personal life Pennock has a son, Alex ...

, and finished with silverware as the Swans were crowned FAW U19 champions. After a brief spell at Moroccan club

Wydad AC Wydad Athletic Club ( ar, نادي الوداد الرياضي, ) commonly referred to as Wydad AC and known as Wydad, or simply as WAC, is a Moroccan sports club based in Casablanca. Wydad AC is best known for its professional Association footba ...

with his father in 2016, Toshack returned to Swansea. He began working with the under-23 Development squad, ultimately guiding them to the

Premier League 2 The Professional Development League is a system of youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Football Association via the Elite Player Performanc ...

Division 2 title in 2017. In the same season, the U23 side competed in the

2016–17 Premier League International Cup The 2016–17 Premier League International Cup was the third season of the Premier League International Cup, a European club football competition organised by the Premier League for under-23 players. Villarreal were the defending champions, havin ...

, reaching the semi-finals before being beaten 0–1 by eventual cup winners

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

. The U23s then won the Premier League Cup in May 2017. In December 2017, Toshack was appointed assistant to Swansea City first-team caretaker manager

Leon Britton Leon James Britton (born 16 September 1982) is an English footballer and coach who plays for Ammanford in the Cymru South. A midfielder, he spent most of his career with Swansea City, having joined Swansea on a permanent transfer in 2003. Brit ...

following the club's decision to release manager

Paul Clement Paul Drew Clement (born June 24, 1966) is an American lawyer who served as U.S. Solicitor General from 2004 to 2008 and is known for his advocacy before the U.S. Supreme Court. He established his own law firm, Clement & Murphy, in 2022 after le ...

. In May 2018, Toshack led the Swansea City U23s to a second successive Premier League Cup final. They lost to Aston Villa on penalties after a goalless draw. Under Toshack's stewardship of the U23 squad, several players made the transition to the main squad including

Oli McBurnie Oliver Robert McBurnie (born 4 June 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Sheffield United and the Scotland national team. After playing youth football for Leeds United, McBurnie began his career with Bradford Ci ...

Joe Rodon Joseph Peter Rodon (born 22 October 1997) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Leeds United, on loan from club Tottenham Hotspur, and the Wales national team. A youth product of Swansea City, Rodon made 54 s ...

, Daniel James, Connor Roberts, Jay Fulton and George Byers. Toshack was able to make Swansea's U23s highly competitive, gaining three

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

medals in four years.

Pafos FC

In December 2019, Toshack was appointed manager of

Pafos FC Pafos FC ( el, Πάφος FC) is a Cypriot football club based in Paphos. The club was created in 2014, by the merger of the two biggest teams of Paphos, AEP Paphos and AEK Kouklia. They play their home games at the Stelios Kyriakides Stadium, ...

. When he joined, the club had achieved only three wins in 13 games and was battling for survival in the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

. Toshack had just 14 fit players available for his first three matches. He prompted a revival for Pafos, picking up 16 of the 18 points on offer. Before his arrival, the club averaged 0.9 points per game in the 2019–20 league season but, under Toshack, this doubled to 1.8 points. Notable victories included a 2–0 win over

APOEL FC APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

, the

leaders and champions of the last seven seasons. In February 2020, Toshack won the

's Manager of the Month award. He left the club in October 2020, having claimed the highest win percentage in the club's history.

Leeds United

On February 28, 2022, Toshack was appointed assistant coach to

at Leeds United, the first member of staff appointed following the sacking of

Marcelo Bielsa Marcelo Alberto Bielsa Caldera (, nicknamed ''El Loco Bielsa'' , meaning "The Crazy Bielsa"; born 21 July 1955) is an Argentine professional football manager who was most recently the head coach of Premier League club Leeds United. He is a forme ...

Qualifications

Toshack holds a

UEFA Pro Licence UEFA, the governing body for football in Europe, mandates several coaching licences for professional managers, each valid for coaching at a certain level. These include the UEFA Pro Licence, the UEFA A Licence, and the UEFA B Licence. They are iss ...

and UEFA A Youth Licence. He attended the

University of Wales The University of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Prifysgol Cymru'') is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff � ...

where he gained a BSc Psychology degree. Toshack was the first

coach to graduate from the Premier League's Elite Coach Apprenticeship Scheme (ECAS).

Honours

Swansea City *

FAW Welsh Youth Cup The FAW Welsh Youth Cup is a competition contested by teams affiliated to the Football Association of Wales The Football Association of Wales (FAW; cy, Cymdeithas Bêl-droed Cymru) is the Governing bodies of sports in Wales, governing body o ...

: 2014 *FAW Welsh Youth Cup: 2015 *

Division 2:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

* Premier League Cup: 2017 *Premier League Cup runner-up:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Individual *

's Manager of the Month award in February 2020

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Toshack, Cameron 1970 births Living people Footballers from Cardiff Welsh footballers Welsh people of Scottish descent Swansea City A.F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Weymouth F.C. players English Football League players Association football forwards Swansea City A.F.C. non-playing staff Pafos FC managers Leeds United F.C. non-playing staff Welsh expatriate football managers Welsh football managers Welsh expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate football managers in Cyprus Welsh expatriates in North Macedonia