Former Real Madrid boss to coach Azerbaijani club
Baku, March 11 (AZERTAC). John Benjamin Toshack who, aside from numerous other football teams, also formerly managed Spain`s FC Real Madrid as well as the Welsh and the Macedonian national squads, will now be the “top boss” at Khazar Lankaran of the Azerbaijan Premier League. A contract with the 64-year-old Welsh will be reached in the coming days. He will join the team on March 15.
Toshack started his footballing career with Cardiff City, signing for them as a 16 year old. He became the youngest ever player to play in a league match for the club when he came off the bench to make a goal scoring debut during a 3-1 win over Leyton Orient on 13 November 1965 at the age of 16 years and 236 days old, a record which stood for 41 years until it was broken by Aaron Ramsey in 2007. Establishing himself in the side over the next few years, scoring his first hat-trick in January 1968 in an 8-0 win over Ebbw Vale in the Welsh Cup, he went on to form one of the most lethal strike partnerships in the club`s history alongside Brian Clark.
In 1984, Toshack was appointed manager of the Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon, but he only lasted one season in the post. His greatest success as a manager so far came 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 Beshiktash J.K., French side AS Saint-Étienne and Italian side Catania.
Following the sudden resignation of Kenny Dalglish as Liverpool manager in February 1991, media reports strongly linked Toshack with a return to Anfield as manager, but he ruled himself out of the running and the job went to Graeme Souness instead.
Toshack trained Real Madrid from 1989 to 1990 and in 1999; the Welsh national squad, in 1994 and between 2004 and 2010; and the Macedonian national team, from 2011 to 2012.
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