The world needs villains. Without them we wouldn’t understand good when we saw it. Additionally, the world would be a little bland. Good is, well, good, but it’s often boring.
A villain also acts as a great scapegoat – although a lot of Toronto FC’s early failures can justifiably be placed at the feet of Mo Johnston (as an aside, this award could almost be called the “Mo Johnston Memorial Award”) it wasn’t Mo who lost his mark on the corner kick.
So, in a way, being named CSN’s Villain of the Year is an honour.
OK, not really but at least it means you’re having an impact. And make no mistake, the 2011 winner had an impact.
His (this year the pronoun is a bit of a spoiler as Carolina Morace was the runner-up) name has become a swear word in certain circles. He’s been accused of having a hidden agenda, of hating Canadians and for all but singlehandedly destroying a team’s season.
Who is it? Find out below the jump.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
The 2011 Villain of the Year in Canadian soccer is Tom Soehn.
Oh, Tommy. It quickly became apparent that Soehn was the man making the decisions on what players to bring in. It made for an awkward working relationship with Teitur Thordarson. Ultimately it led to Thordarson being shown the door bizarrely early in the year (the handling of Thordarson is likely one of the biggest hits on Vancouver’s reputation as a first class organization in its history).
It was the worst season in Vancouver’s rich history and, like Johnston with TFC earlier, much of the blame has to fall
on Soehn. As much as Whitecaps fans might be feeling better about 2012, they also must have a bit of trepidation knowing that the same man that build the 2011 Caps is behind the 2012 Caps.
Should Soehn be fired? The argument could be made that he should. However, the Caps have likely made too many changes already.
Hopefully for Vancouver fans this isn’t the first of many of these “honours” for Soehn.