You may have heard that Canadian coach Frank Yallop is out of a job. It came as a bit of a surprise. Yes, the Earthquakes were struggling a bit, but he is less than a year off winning MLS' Manager of the year award, along with the Supporter's Shield. Yallop was a fixture in San Jose, having managed there during both the Quakes 1.0 and 2.0 eras.
The sudden nature of his removal has led many to speculate that Yallop had a new gig already set up. Many have extended that idea and have noticed that the Canadian national team job is still vacant. Yallop once held that job, the thinking goes, so it stands to reason that he might be offered it again. After all he wasn't fired from the gig (he left to take the Galaxy job) and he remains well respected.
It's solid logic. It's also wrong. CSN has been told, by several people close to the situation, that Yallop is not under consideration for the job. In fact, it is widely believed that the next Canadian manager won't be named until the Fall at the earliest. So, if the national team job is off the table, what then?
The next suggestion is that he's about to join the Whitecaps in some role, and be there, should Martin Rennie be fired. Yallop very well may end up with the Whitecaps job if Rennie is let go and Rennie very well may be let go. But, a two headed Rennie-Yallop management structure in Vancouver would seem as likely to work as that Winter-Mariner one did in Toronto.
Speaking of Toronto, one wonders if there is any possibility of Yallop moving there. It seems absurd, but TFC occasionally defines absurdity. Also, new president Tim Leiweke might be eager to make his mark on the Reds now that he's less busy with the equally dysfunctional basketball team. It is important to remember that Kevin Payne was not his hire and, as such, he might not have as loose a rope as he did under Tom Anselmi.
And then there are the whispers, from close to the team, that are increasingly getting louder. These whispers are from similar places that past whispers came from and have been consistently correct in the past.
It's important to stress that the noise is coming from people that did not have a horse in the great Mariner v Winter war of 2012. One source familiar with the dressing room told CSN that players are already tuning out management.
Specifically they said that Payne "tore a strip off" players Monday in a closed door practice. It was suggested that he "read them the riot act" stressing how they have the best facilities, manager and coaches. They need to do more, Payne fumed, without taking any blame for TFC's struggles himself.
Although it certainly is possible that there was some truth to Payne's message, the source questioned the delivery and pointed out that the blame sessions are becoming more and more frequent.
"It has become an increasingly difficult place to work for players who are routinely being told their jobs are on the line," the source said. "Players are increasingly tuning out the threats."
Does that mean change is imminent in TFC-land? No. But the last time these type of rumours were common was in the middle of 2010. That would be just before Preki was fired, less than a season into his time in T.O.
Ryan Nelsen's job is probably safe, but canning him to bring in Yallop wouldn't even make the top 10 list if strange decisions TFC has made over the years.
Or, maybe, Yallop is just going to wait for another good MLS job to open up without worrying about what country it's in.