The lack of communication regarding Joao Plata's transfer fee is illustrative of an existing power battle between the old guard at TFC and the new leadership that arrived with Aron Winter.
Although there is no direct evidence to suggest that the information was deliberately withheld, Winter and his team were not told of Plata's fee by those in the front office that had been informed. Earl Cochrane was the interim general management prior to Winter being hired.
The fee put TFC in an awkward position this off-season — forced to decide between allowing a popular and promising young player walk, or putting themselves in a tough financial position by taking on a transfer fee that was far too high (within a MLS, salary cap, context) for a player that currently does not play up to the level that investment requires.
The transfer fee error was not the only clash between the old and the new last year.
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A source now tells Canadian Soccer News that prior to Winter coming on board, Cochrane had offered contracts to two players – Bas Ent and Eddy Sidra – that Winter did not favour. Those contract offers were quickly rescinded by Winter and Co. Eddy Sidra told 11.ca over a year ago how this had played out but this new information rounds out the picture.
The working relationship between Winter and Cochrane have continue to deteriorate since that time. As previously reported on CSN, a divide between “MLS pragmatists” and “4-3-3 idealists” has been brewing for a while. It's been further suggested that Cochrane has openly blocked Winter from other signings during that period but did not elaborate on the details.
Last week, after the CSN story on Plata's transfer fee ran, MLSE executive vice president Tom Anselmi circulated a company wide email decrying 'a leak within the company' as a problem that needed to be fixed. A leak would suggest it was one person. It is not. And the reason we are giving this story so much priority is because it is coming from multiple people - from neither the idealists or the pragmatists. Unattached individuals are coming forward to express their concern about what is quickly becoming a toxic environment for staff, coaches and players. This was supposed to be the season it all changed, instead it is playing out like a re-run.
There is so much information coming forward right now, it is hard to shake loose what is real and what might be MLSE looking to trace their 'leak.' But if there has been one piece of information that has been consistent in the last 72 hours, it is that MLSE has quietly given a 3 year-contract extension to Paul Mariner. It would seem the pragmatists, once thought to be the outsiders, are gaining ground.