Winterlicious.

The world's worst kept secret was confirmed on Thursday afternoon, with TFC announcing the arrival of Aron Winter, Paul Mariner and Bob de Klerk as their new management team.  Click here for details, interviews and such like.

Alright, that’s a little harsh as there was still a lot of clarification required on who exactly would be doing what, and what would happen to the current staff.  That all ended up as follows, Aron Winter as Technical Director, the overall man in charge as well as first team Head Coach with Bob de Klerk assisting him in both areas. Paul Mariner will be the Director of Player Development, overseeing scouting, trades and all that sort of thing, as well as “acting as a bridge between Aron and MLS” which to me sounds like a lot of saying “No Aron, you can’t do that here” or “No Aron, that’s not going to work here” or "Yes Aron, we are going to have to fly all over the continent on a regular basis."

Earl Cochrane gets “promoted” to Director of Team and Player Operations, while Stuart Neely will be the Academy Director.  Jim Brennan, Nick Dasovic, Danny Dichio and Jason Bent will all remain with the club, though their roles weren’t specified.  Leo Percovich wasn’t mentioned so is presumably on his way out. I met him a couple of times and he’s a really nice guy, so I genuinely wish him all the best in the future.

So what does all this mean?  Well firstly it means they haven’t gone for the cheap, more of the same option that merely bringing in Paul Mariner to work with Earl Cochrane would have been, so that’s a good sign. Secondly it means they really seem to have made a commitment to a long term vision of what the club stands for, what style of football it will play and how they’re going to get there, all that stuff Jürgen Klinsmann was talking about back in November.

With a re-affirmation of their commitment to building new academy facilities as soon as a location is finalised, there was much talk of TFC becoming less reliant on drafts to stock its roster, on being able to develop its own players, coming up through the academy playing the same style so as to eventually fit comfortably into the first team. Winter made it obvious that while it won’t be an exact copy of the “total football” that Ajax is known for, that style will certainly be loosely based on it, with a 4-3-3 formation as the starting point.

Looking at it long term, this seems like a really really positive day, one that should have great benefits for both TFC and Canada years down the line.  Who knows how long they’ll stick around, but hopefully Winter and de Klerk can get the ball rolling and develop things so that not only the players, but also the coaching staff at all levels will become comfortable with Toronto FC style football, and be able to continue it long after they’ve gone, ideally poached by a bigger club impressed by their achievements here.

Unfortunately, those hoped for great benefits of the academy system will probably take 5-10 years to really be felt at first team level, the short term is a lot more of a question mark.  Winter is untested as a coach at first team level, and the style of football he wants to play will probably not come easily or quickly to your average MLS player.  Many times in the press conference and various interviews it was stressed that this is going to require patience, so it's probably best not to expect too much in the way of results in 2011.  It will be interesting to see which players are brought in once the January transfer window opens, TFC obviously have a lot of places to fill, and are going to have to bring in players who can play this style as well as be able to handle the more physical play in MLS. This is where Paul Mariner should really be earning his money, using his MLS experience and know-how to help TFC field a competitive side for the next few seasons, so as to give Winter and de Klerk enough time to be able to do what they're really here for, which is the long term side of things. 

The next 2 or 3 seasons will probably be interesting, entertaining and frustrating in equal measures,  but hopefully supporters and management will be able to give the new regime time to really see their plans come to fruition.  Management certainly talked a good game in that respect yesterday, and it does seem like they're genuinely trying to build something that can give TFC lasting and long term success, let's hope it works.