Don't tell him about Rob Ford.

Damn work!  I must have been busy when TFC made their Jürgen Klinsmann announcement, as I missed the press conference and hoopla that surely accompanied the news that such a well known and respected football personality was joining up with a club desperate for some good news to sell season tickets and fill BMO field for the MLS cup.  They wouldn't have just released some publicity gold like that casually on their website would they?  Oh!

Alright, that's a little unfair, Tom Anselmi did an interview with The Fan 590 which gave a few more details than had been previously reported last Friday, and this article on sportsnet suggests he'll be formally introduced a couple of weeks from now, presumably as part of the pre MLS cup festivities, so I guess we'll get the full details and press conference at that time.

So what did we find out?  Well, fears that it might be SoccerSolutions and not actually Klinsmann himself were dismissed by Anselmi, but disappointingly, his contract runs only until "some time in the spring".   What is he here to do?

"It's more than just helping us hire a new manager, a new leader," said Anselmi. "It's looking at helping us organize or reorganize the whole front office, everything from vision for the club, what do we stand for, what's the style of play that we want to adopt for the rest of our lives to the people that we need to be able to deliver on that: players, coaching staff, the like."

 Though he hasn't made any public statements since being hired, in earlier interviews Klinsmann has elaborated a little on that

...I think every country has its own style and every environment, every MLS team should have its own identity based on their neighbourhood, based on their environment, the people that grow up in that neighbourhood, what they stand for ...

Who knows exactly what he'll decide represents Toronto, hopefully he hasn't heard about our latest election results.

The talk about potentially reorganizing the front office and the management and coaching staff would be encouraging if it weren't for the impression that's been given repeatedly over the last few weeks that the front office doesn't really think there's much wrong with the status quo.  Whether it's comments about Preki being fired mainly due to a gut feeling that he didn't really fit in with the organisation and the way they like to work, or Anselmi's oft-stated belief that we were only a few tweaks away from competing until Mo and Preki unnecessarily blew up last year's squad, or the repeated assurances that Earl Cochrane, Jimmy Brennan and Nick Dasovic are a big part of the club's future, and that Klinsmann will be working closely with Cochrane and Brennan, there's nothing to suggest that management thinks much needs changing at all.  This despite the lack of success that TFC has had since it's inception, and that all of their teams have had under MLSE's leadership.

It will be interesting to see exactly what recommendations and appointments are made, and just how much things change. I really shouldn't criticise too much before any of that happens, but given that he's just a consultant and apparently without long term involvement, my initial excitement at Klinsmann's involvement is definitely fading.  Anselmi said that this was in no way just about getting a big name on board, I hope he's right, but I really don't see Klinsmann being able to affect much change in such a short time in an organisation that seems so determined it's already doing most things right, especially when he's likely going to be leaving behind 2 or 3 new guys surrounded by Tom, Paul, Earl, Jimmy, Nick and all the rest of the staff who've given us such profoundly mediocre results so far.