When you come off a season with just five wins it’s difficult to pinpoint a single issue that is most responsible for the problems.
Coaching. Scouting. Tactics. Management.
They all play a role.
Bad luck. Injuries. Fitness. Act of God.
Sure, why not? TFC was the worst team in the league by a good amount. Everything has to be considered.
However, this isn’t an isolated issue. Toronto is arguably the worst franchise in league history. The only other franchise that comes close is the New York Metrostars/Red Bulls – no trophies of any kind in their 16-year history, especially considering they were around in the lean years in the early ‘00s, is hard to argue with, but Toronto is in the conversation.
So, the biggest problem isn’t isolated to one person (Mariner, Winter, Anselmi, etc), or one issue (central defense, lack of depth, poor scouting, etc). No, it’s systemic.
What is it? Find out below the jump.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
A lack of respect for MLS.
From the beginning almost everyone associated with TFC has shown an incredible and illogical disrespect for the league it plays in. The attitude has infected almost everything associated with the club.
This is where management must take much of the blame. By acting like they know better than clubs that have been around much longer, they have alienated would-be allies around the league. The lack of political goodwill TFC has league-wide (it’s been suggested to me that only Vancouver and Dallas are willing to work with TFC on league issues. And the amount of trades that take place between Toronto and those two clubs might suggest some truth to that suggestion) bites Toronto in the ass.
A case in point from this year is the Olof Mellberg situation. As was reported here, and elsewhere, the league blocked Toronto from signing the Swedish defender. MLS could justify it because of salary cap and designated player rules. However, anyone with eyes and a brain can see that the league is more than a little liquid in its interpretation of its rules.
If the league feels that a move will make the league stronger overall it will make exceptions. It isn’t tinfoil hat stuff to suggest that New York and Los Angeles are favoured. The league wants those markets to be strong because they drive revenue and it’s a single entity.
In that regard, they should want Toronto to be stronger. TFC did drive a lot of revenue in its early days. However, it’s impact on the bottom line wasn’t so great that club’s are going to go out of their way to help.
So, when TFC went looking for an exception to sign Melberg they were met with silent stares. No one wanted to help a club that, in their mind, had looked down its nose at them, and had ignored the work and struggle they went through to keep the league afloat in the early years.
Without that work TFC doesn’t have a stable league to step into in 2007 and without a stable league to step into TFC isn’t successful, is the thinking.
Beyond the politics, TFC has also ignored conventional approaches to building the team. The Aron Winter hiring is the most glaring (just after the signing It’s Called Football spoke to Sigi Schmid who told us that Winter’s style was destined to fail in MLS. The feeling was universal across the league, but dismissed by almost everyone in Toronto), but it goes beyond that. They have never had a handle on what type of player works in this league.
Take a look at the number of players that have played for TFC, been cut, and who have never resurfaced in MLS. It’s staggering. And, telling.
Of the seven men that have managed TFC only one was American – Preki. He’s likely the least fancied of all the club’s past managers (although the current manager would likely be the least popular…). Preki was ultimately thrown out with Mo Johnston and was a victim of a player revolt. The team did quit on him – his man management skills left a little to be desired. However, before he lost the room the club was playing effective, if simple, football.
Football that works in MLS. It’s telling that the two clubs he’s been fired from (Chivas USA and TFC) have both gone into the toilet since he left (and both appear to think they know better than the rest of the league). The man likely is an insufferable ass, but he knows what works in MLS.
Toronto management does not. The evidence is indisputable. If this is to be solved then those in charge are going to have to show some humility, and they are going to have to listen to the advice (if any is forthcoming) of those that have successfully built teams in this league.
Otherwise it will just be more and more and more of the same.