England and Manchester United midfielder Ella Toone is preparing for her wedding this summer, but will have “an empty chair” at the ceremony.
In a new BBC documentary, 24 Hours with Ella Toone, she discusses grief, ensuring her father’s legacy, and being a ‘pioneer for women’s football’. She also talks about how this is helping the next generation.
A Father’s Passion for the Women’s Game
Toone knew she would always get a phone call from her dad, Nick, after every match. Nick and her mum, Karen, would come to watch Toone’s matches, but Nick also recorded them on TV so he could watch them again before calling his daughter for a ‘debrief on the whole game’.
According to Toone, her dad “was just obsessed” and “loved women’s football more than he loved watching the men’s game.” He knew all the players and was passionate about Toone’s career, her team, and their style of play. Toone added that her dad “would go into any pub and talk about women’s football and talk about me.”
Toone says her dad was “the driving force” behind her football, taking her up and down the country for club matches and travelling abroad for England games.
“Me and dad were all about football, that was our thing that we had together,” she reveals. “He was probably one of the first people that really saw potential in me.”
Hidden Diagnosis and a Devastating Loss
The day after Toone scored in England’s 2-1 win over Germany in the 2022 European Championship final, she had no idea her dad had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He had only told his wife and brother.
“He didn’t want anyone worrying about him,” she explains. “He wasn’t well throughout the tournament. I’m finding out more and more about it now that he’s not here.”
It was not until the day after her Manchester United team won the FA Cup final at Wembley in May 2024 that she learned he was ill.
“I feel like every time I won something, something bad came after,” she says.
Nick died three days before his 60th birthday, five days after Toone turned 25, in September 2024. The following day she was back in training.
“I went straight back into football because I knew that’s what he would have wanted,” she says.
“I started the first game at Old Trafford, it was really difficult, but I felt like that’s what I needed to do in that moment. I needed to play, I couldn’t just be sat around moping about, thinking about it all the time. I knew he would have been there and been watching.”
Taking Time to Grieve
Toone says she and her late dad Nick – whom she describes as ‘the most competitive person ever” – bonded over football.
Toone admits she was not really processing her grief at that point and was only able to do so when a calf injury in November forced her to take time off.
“I think it was my body telling me to stop before I would have had a mental breakdown,” she recalls.
After two months away from the game, during which Toone saw a c