New management, same old TFC.

"In sport there's winning cultures and there's losing cultures, we understand that.  We started yesterday to develop a winning culture." 

That was Paul Mariner talking Wednesday in response to a question about changing the culture at Toronto FC.  Obviously until now TFC's culture has been very much a losing one, and not just on the pitch where it counts and where the lack of results speak for themselves.  Mo Johnston's 5 year plan seemed to involve not much actual planning, but instead a lot of reacting, trying to fix problems and just making them worse.  The coaches have been inexperienced, and the one time we had an experienced head coach who seemed to want to develop a sense of responsibility and hard work, well, he got fired after the assistants went behind his back because they and the players didn't like him.  As for the Front Office, they not only put up with Mo, but actually extended his contract, and despite the lack of success, seemed determined to raise prices and exploit supporter passion, rather then nurture the one area where the club had been a success.  Through it all, leaks were commonplace, whether about potential signings or about player unrest.

Ever since that culture reached it's tipping point last season, with firings followed by townhall meetings, public contrition, season ticket discounts and expensive consultants, things have looked brighter.  It seems like upper management has admitted what it doesn't know and tried to keep out of the way, and the appointment of Aron Winter, Bob De Klerk and Paul Mariner is a gamble but a genuinely positive one.  As I touched upon in my previous post, things have gone fairly smoothly, and relatively drama free since then, with the one exception of the Dwayne De Rosario/Celtic fiasco.

Today's media day press conference seemed to confirm all that.  Refreshingly, Tom Anselmi was nowhere to be seen, leaving the new management he hired to do their job and talk about the upcoming season, their plans for player signings, a new style and so on.  It wasn't all sunshine and lollipops obviously, with contract negotiations to be sorted out with a few players, as at any club, but careful answers were given that in no way inflamed the situation, suggesting it's something to be sorted out behind closed doors. 

Players were then interviewed and all said the right things, pleased at having had personal meetings with the new coaches, looking forward to the new style of play, excited for a new season, all that.  Nothing really noteworthy, but very positive and drama free.  De Rosario was the last of the players to talk, and though it was clear that he wasn't as satisfied as Aron Winter made him sound in Cathal Kelly's article on tuesday, his answers were respectful and clearly trying to avoid controversy.  The overall impression was one of a team united, moving forward with shared goals and taking care of the inevitable problems any club faces internally.  Though definitely a bit dull, it all seemed unnervingly professional, so this was what a winning culture looked like.

Then, after the main show, in a media scrum with journalists De Ro, the club captain who Winter had gone out of his way to talk nicely about, saying he was still the leader of the team and crucial to his plans, demolished that and put us right back at square one. 

He was a lot more forthcoming with his criticisms related to his ongoing contract dispute, confirming he wants a raise to take him to Designated Player status, saying "it's not what I want, it's what I think I deserve".  The fact that the last two years of his contract are option years (the league's option) is also a cause for concern, with De Ro saying  "this is my option year, and if anything happens to me in terms of injuries nothing is guaranteed and then I'm on the outside looking in.  "I have to look at my future and my family's future as well."

So far, nothing really new, but then the prospect of him starting the season without the contract issue being resolved was brought up, "No, there's too much risk in that" he said, suggesting that though that decision is a long way away, he's prepared to sit out games until he gets his way.

So now we have the star player, the captain, threatening to go on strike and as in any labour dispute PR battle, that tough talk was met by equally tough talk from the management side of things.  

“He made a choice two years ago, and he came to us. No one should forget that,” said Todd Durbin, MLS V-P and the league’s contract czar. “Had he played under his existing contract, he would be a free agent today.  “We believe that the contract that he is under is the appropriate contract for him,”  The league has exercised the option year, and is now threatening suspension if De Ro fails to show for the season opener in March.

To top it off, there was this quote “We re-opened his deal, we gave him a big raise and at the time he said he’d be happy. “This would be opening this contract for the second time, which is ludicrous.”

That, depressingly yest inevitably was Tom Anselmi.  One and a half days!  One and a half days is all we got of a winning culture before it all went wrong and Anselmi had to come running to the rescue of his newly undermined management team.  Thanks De Ro!