Toffolo is changing his tune

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Before Harry Toffolo’s career, and life, nearly fell apart, he listened to Ed Sheeran all the time. He loved The Killers, an American band which broke out first in the U.K., and Oasis, of course, like the good Brit and English Premier League player that he was. 

Then, on the night of April 26, 2023, Toffolo converted to country. 

Nottingham Forest defeated Brighton that night and vibes were high, until Toffolo was ushered into the coach’s office afterward and shown an e-mail outlining a litany of gambling charges against him by England’s Football Association. 

The 27-year-old father of three, with another on the way, called his parents in tears, thinking his career was over. He was in the final year of his contract. His oldest sons, then 6 and 4, saw him break down over decisions he’d made before they were born, as an 18- and 19-year-old, trying to fit into a locker room culture. Late that night, after his wife, Annie, and the children went to bed, Toffolo sat alone with his TV, his phone and his thoughts.

Scrolling Instagram, a video popped up from an obscure country musician named Dylan Gossett. The fast-paced guitar strumming in his song “Lone Ole Cowboy” caught Toffolo’s attention. The melancholy lyrics kept it.

“I’m just a man with a past and a whole lot of pride,” Gossett sings in an Austin, Texas, rasp. “A heartbroke cowboy with pain deep inside.”

Gossett’s words about lost love and a hard-working man turned outlaw did what many good country lyrics do. They struck a chord. Toffolo hit play and listened again. And again. 

He scrolled through some soccer highlights then came to another of Gossett’s songs, “Coal.” At the time, Gossett hadn’t even released an album, but Toffolo was hooked. 

“The next day I woke up, and that song was in my head,” Toffolo said. “I listened to it on the drive to work. I listened to him on repeat for a week. … When my mind was racing and everything was going, I just put that on and chilled. I liked how it was soothing.”

Five months later, in September of 2023, the FA announced Toffolo would be fined £20,956 — about $27,000 —  and receive a five-month ban, but it was suspended until after the 2024-25 season. His cooperation, admission of past mistakes and transparency about his struggles with anxiety helped lighten the penalty. 

Nottingham Forest picked up the option year on Toffolo’s contract and made him a mental health ambassador for the club. Toffolo spent his final season there, advocating for and participating with men’s support groups like Bottled Up Blokes and Tricky to Talk. 

All the while, country music gave Toffolo his own daily dose of therapy. 

In July of 2025, Toffolo got a “lonely ole cowboy,” riding on a horse, tattooed on his right arm. Three weeks later, he and Annie visited Bank of America Stadium for the first time. He signed a three-year contract with Charlotte FC that August.

“When I first saw ‘North Carolina,’ I thought, ‘Oh no, we're in the north, it’ll be cold,’” said Toffolo, who shares an agent with Charlotte FC captain and fellow Englishman Ashley Westwood. “Until I got here and everyone sounded a bit different — they all had southern accents — I was like, ‘Ah, OK, I'm in the South.’”

Toffolo has embraced both the music and the lifestyle. 

“We got here and, in football terms, we two-footed everything,” Toffolo said. “We went all out.”

He drives a dually, a heavy-duty pickup truck with two wheels on each side of the rear axle. His wife and kids fell for country music, too. Harry and Annie just got back from a getaway weekend to Nashville. They took their oldest sons to a Morgan Wallen concert in Clemson. And when their children put on a family variety show in their living room recently, their 5-year-old daughter, Sienna, came out dressed in boots and a cowboy hat and sang Ella Langley’s “You Look Like You Love Me” from start to finish. 

“I was nearly in tears, it was so cute,” Toffolo said. “I know for a fact if I didn't ever go on Instagram that one night, we probably would have been listening to a whole different genre of music. I'm grateful I've had that opportunity to see it and now live it. I love how you go around to Harris Teeter and places like that, and Morgan Wallen’s playing, and I’m like, ‘We're home. This is home.’” 

Like any good country song, Toffolo’s time here hasn’t been all daisies. Trying to acclimate to a Charlotte team more than halfway through its season last year, Toffolo injured his hamstring the first game he started.

He’s struggled with hamstring problems on and off ever since. Toffolo has appeared in just 21 of the 39 MLS games Charlotte has played since he arrived. Just when he returned from a hamstring injury coming out of the World Cup break this summer, he reinjured it a third time.

“I was thinking, ‘This is awful,’” Toffolo said. “‘This isn't turning out what I planned it to be.’”

Then he got into the car, flipped on Spotify, and the song “Things I Take for Granted” by Larry Fleet came on.

“If you listen to the words — and with country, you actually listen to the words — he basically sings about you have everything [when] you've got your family, you’ve got a house,” Toffolo said. “I'm driving home. I'm thinking, ‘Grow up. You're going to meet your wife for lunch, and you're going to pick your kids up. You're going to watch your son train [in youth soccer].’ And suddenly that pressure is off. I feel like nothing but country music can do that to you.” 

Toffolo made his first start in nearly two months in Charlotte’s last game before the international break against Chicago, a 1-0 loss. He’s feeling strong again, he said, and gearing up for his second consecutive start Saturday against FC Dallas.

Toffolo said once he gets back to playing regularly, he’d like to start in Charlotte what he did with Nottingham Forest: invite fans to the stadium for small group sessions to talk about mental health.

“That’s my ultimate goal,” he said. 

When/Where: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Bank of America Stadium

How to watch: Apple TV. Find information about how to subscribe for the season here.

How to listen: WFNZ 92.7 in English, WOLS 106.1 in Spanish.

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Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now in her fifth season covering Charlotte FC. She would love to hear from you. E-mail her with questions, suggestions, story ideas and comments!