Hello, hello, it's good to be back!

So the off season is now over.  Two months, numerous player releases, one trans-atlantic shitstorm, 3 new management appointments, some trades and multiple drafts have come and gone since the MLS Cup sheepishly left town back in November, but now pre-season is officially upon us with what remains of TFC's squad from last year returning to BMO field for their annual physical.

If that paragraph makes it seem like it's been all action, it really hasn't.  Sure there's been bursts of activity around the various drafts, the Dwayne De Rosario "trial" at celtic was probably the club's highest profile PR fiasco yet, which is quite the acheivement, and the appointments of Aron Winter, Bob De Klerk and Paul Mariner may well turn out to be the pivotal moment in club history, but in comparison to previous years, it's been relatively quiet and drama free.

Though it means less to write about, this is to the club's credit and a refreshing change to the Mo Johnston reign of error.  None of the players let go or traded by Earl Cochrane left with any outward resentment or did disgruntled interviews a la Ali Gerba or Chris Cummins.  During his time in charge, Cochrane generally kep a low profile, at least until the De Rosario situation blew up on him.  Since taking over, Aron Winter and Paul Mariner have been equally quiet, with no new signings yet and very few leaks or rumours beyond minor players such as Bas Ent or Andrew Ornoch.  Probably the biggest talking points in the last week or so have been superdraft pick Demetrius Omphroy's social media exploits.

All this should change tomorrow though, as it's media day, a chance for journalists to get interviews with players before they head off to Turkey for the first stage of pre-season training.  Hopefully serious questions will be asked and we'll get answers about the De Ro situation, this interview with Winter suggests that the contract dispute has been resolved, but will he still be captain, and what exactly did go wrong around the trial?  It's suggested that no raise will be offered and De Rosario will be expected to play to his contract, so how is it that that is now accpetable to DeRo when it clearly wasn't before?  Information on new player signings, or just updates on the contract status of the current squad or the exact roles of Danny Dichio, Nick Dasovic and Jim Brennan would also be welcomed.  As well, presumably there should be the new home kit revealed soon, which will hopefully be better received than the unveiling of Canada's new kits, which are incidentally growing on me as I get used to them.

Whether there's much information from tomorrow or not, let's hope there's plenty of action on the player recruitment side of things as over a week into the transfer window, the squad is just as threadbare as it was after the trading away of Chad Barrett and Jon Conway.  All 8 of the recent draft picks as well as 4 academy players will be making the trip to Turkey, but realistically, few of them will be in the squad on opening day, so there are still many holes left to fill, it would be nice to have a settled squad going into the season for a change. 

In the interview linked above, Winter says that "The most important thing for me is that this club wants to change how they play soccer from the other MLS teams. That’s the real challenge,”  It really will be a challenge, and not one that will be done quickly.  With no head coaching experience, and little visible action so far, TFC supporters are being asked to be patient and will have to rely on blind faith that Winter will be able to have the effect he expects to, it'd be nice to have something tangible to rely on sooner rather than later.