Ceeeeelebrate good times, come on!

So, the what now question is a bit of a scary one, but I'll leave that for later.

For now, though, Mo Johnston is fired, which is very good news, Preki's getting fired as well, which I'm less happy about.  It's probably for the best, but I feel bad for Preki, he never really got a fair chance here.  But again I'll leave that for later.

Anyway, Johnston's gone, that's a good start, and hopefully after restarting many times under Johnston, this bigger restructuring will work well enough to finally turn the corner towards being a respectable club instead of the laughing stock it's become, at least at the on the pitch side of things.

There's many articles out there analysing this of course, but this one from view from the south stands does an excellent job of detailing Mo's failings and why it's a good thing he's finally been let go.

Obviously there's the fact that we're now on our 5th coach in less than 4 years, the revolving door of players coming and going without there ever seeming to be a clear plan of any kind, and the failure to make the playoffs for 3 years, most likely 4, while expansion teams from later years have overtaken us.

Most of all though for me it's his personality, which is the best thing to be rid of.  I doubt there was anyone who thought of Mo as trustworthy, and way too many players have left the club on bad terms, with rumours, innuendo and lies flying around in their aftermath.  All that unfortunately gets reflected on to the club, and make it a less attractive place to play, and in a salary cap league you can't let money talk enough to overcome objections if players don't want to come here.

The current players apparently burst into applause at the announcement, which I imagine is as much to do with Preki leaving as it is for Mo, but still, not a good sign of a happy club.  Hopefully from here, the changes will be enough to remove the toxic atmosphere and inspire a late season run from relieved players. 

In the long term, I hope MLSE puts enough thought into hiring a replacement or multiple replacements if necessary, who can make the on-pitch product as successful and respected as they are off the pitch.  Apparently when Philadelphia were starting out and figuring out what they were going to do on the business side of things, Toronto FC and Director of Business operations Paul Beirne were frequently looked to as someone to copy.  I can guarantee no-one ever felt that way about Mo Johnston.