New news, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Plenty of TFC and MLS related news was released on Wednesday, inspiring a range of emotions.  First up was news of coaching appointments with Toronto's first team and the academy.  Back in January when the new management team was initially announced, it was confirmed that Jim Brennan, Danny Dichio, Nick Dasovic and Jason Bent would be staying with the club, but no specifics of postions were given, well that has now been resolved.  Jason Bent has been moved up from his position with the academy to become an assistant coach with the first team, Danny Dichio stepped in to Bent's old role as coach of the senior academy team, the under 19s, and Jim Brennan will become the junior academy coach with Nick Dasovic becoming the North American scout. 

It could definitely be argued that this is just an extension of the "jobs for the boys" philosophy that has permeated TFC in the past, the investment in the development of certain MLSE favourites taking precedence over ruthlessly building a winning management team.  How much difference can Aron Winter, Bob de Klerk and Paul Mariner make when they're surrounded by all the same old people above and below them?  That would be a bit harsh though, I'm going to take this at face value, as good appointments.

Jason Bent's work with Stuart Neely in the academy over the last 3 years has definitely produced some good results, with Doneil Henry and Nicholas Lindsey already having signed on with the big club, and 4 other academy products impressing enough while in Turkey to win an invite to Orlando to train with the first team as well.  His promotion to first team duties is a good reward for that work, and should help those players who worked with him in the academy to adapt at the higher level.

Dichio taking over from Bent should work well and is a very logical move, a more surprising move is Brennan coming in as the under 17 coach.  Initially it seems like quite the comedown from assistant GM to probably the lowest rung on the club's current coaching ladder, but given the renewed emphasis TFC is placing on the academy as an important part of the club's future, this isn't a throwaway appointment.  It's also a job I'd think should suit him better, I have more confidence in his ability with a football and to coach the young players than I do in his ability to make it as an executive, making trades, negotiating with agents and competing with other GM's.

As for Dasovic,  it's likely he was offered the position that Bent took, but turned it down, not wanting to go from interim head coach back into the assistants ranks.  I'll stand by my theory that this scouting position is a very temporary one, TFC  looking after him until he can get the kind of coaching role he desires, as a thank you for his work over the years, a move I can very much applaud.

The next bit of news released was that of the new triallists joining the team in Orlando.  As rumoured Joevin Jones is one of them, and he's joined by fellow Trinidad and Tobago international Jamal Gay.  Gay is a 22 year old forward who previously impressed enough to get a move to the German second division though he didn't get a game there, and he's scored 3 times in 8 games for the T & T national team so there's a bit of promise there.

The other two triallists to join the team in Orlando, you know, where we were supposed to be trialling South Americans, are from Belgium and, surprise surprise, Holland.  Belgian defender Mikael Yourassowsky has made it to the age of 27 without ever catching on at any team in particular, and Dutch midfielder Ivo De Heus is another product of Ajax's youth system who hasn't really done much since leaving Ajax.  As I said earlier, ya gotta have faith, but there's still no-one really impressive coming along yet.

The other big news of the day was the release of the MLS playoff format for 2011, providing confirmation of the 10 team format and details of how the wild cards will work.  Basically the top 3 teams in each conference will qualify in their conference's half of the draw.  Teams 7-10, regardless of conference, will then have a 1 game playoff, 7 v10 and 8 v9 at the home of the higher seed to determine who makes the 7th and 8th spots.  The lowest seed of the wild card winners, again regardless of which conference they are from will be put in a match-up with the Supporters Shield winner, with the other wild card playing against the other Conference champion.

Still with me?  Excellent, as now it's time to point out the goofiness that could ensue from this format combined with the stubborn maintenance of two seperate conferences as opposed to just a single table.  The first wierd scenario is that it could potentially mean 7 teams qualifying from one conference, obviously the West would have the best shot at that achievement right now.  The ultimate possibility though, would be for two wild card teams in the wrong conferences to make the final.  Imagine Toronto (yeah, yeah,hilarious, I know) representing the West and Vancouver representing the East, I think that could see heads explode at ESPN.  Given that the wild card crossover team has made the final three years straight, and won the MLS Cup two years running, it's not that far fetched, and the possibility is just another reason for the usual MLS knockers to not take the league seriously.

Ya gotta have faith, faith, faith.

TfC flew down to Orlando today, for the next step of their pre-season, with another training camp and games in the Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic, referred to from here on in for reasons of laziness and disney related disdain on my behalf, if not originality, the Mickey Mouse tournament.  They'll be playing against Houston Dynamo this Thursday, before playing the winner/loser of the other semi final, either FC Dallas or Orlando City on Sunday. 

The good thing is that all games are due to be streamed online so we'll finally have a chance to see how the much ballyhooed new system and style are looking after the first few weeks under Aron Winter and Bob de Klerk.  We'll also get to see how the new players look outside of a few brief highlights, does Javier Martina have more to him that just a few fancy tricks?  Will Nick Soolsma and Elbekay Bouchiba show that they were playing at too low of a level in their recent spells in the Dutch amateur leagues and Qatar respectively.

There should also be new triallists as well, with Winter previously suggesting that this would be the time to evaluate talent from South and Central America.  Much like what happened in Europe though, it seems fans shouldn't get their hopes too high for some new exotic foreign signings just yet.  The two names rumoured to be joining TFC so far are Joevin Jones and Shadhon Winchester, and while both are Trinidad and Tobago internationals, they also both recently trialled with Colorado Rapids and were released, so it's not exactly thrilling news yet. 

The next few days should see other names announced, and then we'll finally get to see everyone play, so hopefully there'll be something a bit more encouraging at that stage.  So far all we've got to go on is faith that Winter, De Klerk, Mariner and co are going to be an improvement on previous years, but I've never been one for religion-esque blind faith, hopefully we'll soon get some solid evidence that they're on the right track.

Random notes on minor happenings.

With the opening press conference and talk of strikes and lockouts now behind us, and the team and De Ro's mouth safely out of the media glare in Turkey, pre-season really gets under way on Wednesday with Toronto FC's first training game, against Partizan Belgrade of Serbia.  With no new news on the De Ro contract saga, there's been very little information from training camp, just the usual cliches and fluff pieces, which is all I'd want really, dull, uninteresting and professionally run are all good things at this stage. 

The much anticipated list of triallists attending camp with TFC didn't exactly set pulses racing, hopefully some of them will be able to make the squad and contribute, but there doesn't seem to be any star players in the group.  That list, along with details about the players can be seen here. 

The main news so far was that last year's Interim Coach Nick Dasovic didn't go to Turkey with the team, and his future is being worked out as it seems his time with the club will probably be coming to an end.  It seems with Aron Winter and Bob De Klerk taking up the main coaching positions, there was no room for Dasovic at the level he wants, so he'll probably try his hand elsewhere.  I wish him the best of luck, but I'm in no way disappointed by this, in fact I'm pleasantly surprised and re-assured by one aspect of this in particular.

Many times Tom Anselmi has spoken about the importance MLSE places on developing coaches and management in North America, and how they were investing in Dasovic, as well as Danny Dichio, Jim Brennan and Earl Cochrane.  To that end, when Preki was brought in back in 2009, he was asked to take Dasovic under his wing, and Dasovic was instrumental in the firing of Preki when things went bad towards the end of the 2010 season.  The fact that MLSE is now ready to let their investment leave, rather than force Winter to find a place for Dasovic that he'd be happy with is a good indication that Winter, Paul Mariner et al have the power and independence to do things their own way.  Of course, nothing is official yet so things may turn out differently, but that seems to be the case for now at least.

The one bit of news that will definitely affect things this season slipped out today which was the 2011 replica home jersey as seen below.

I like it, it's simple with no unnecessary embellishments.  It is, as the link above shows merely the replica version.  The "authentic" Jersey still hasn't been released yet, presumably there'll be a grand unveiling at some point, so there's still time for me to be disappointed with extras like the embossed Maple Leaf and "All for One" marketing slogan on the collar that marred the previous effort, but hopefully they won't have gone too far with all that this time around.  If it stays like this, I could be tempted to buy one, even with a sponsor on it.

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!

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.

Insert generic Winter pun here.

While there's been no official announcement yet, word has very much got out, if a little unspecifically, about a very interesting development in TFC's search for a management team.  According to reports, former Dutch international and current Ajax (the Amsterdam one, not the GTA one) assistant coach Aron Winter has agreed to a 3 year contract, and will be bringing fellow Dutchman Bob De Klerk with him.

Throughout the day there's been varying different reports, guesses and assumptions about exactly what role these two will fill, as well as Paul Mariner who it was thought might now be left out, but was later reported as very much still part of the plan, as either a coach, or as Technical Director.  By the end of the day a consensus seemed to be forming that Mariner would be the GM/Technical Director, with Winter and De Klerk as Coach and assistant respectively, though some suggested Mariner and Winter were going to somehow split the Technical Director and Coach roles, though I'm really not sure how that would work.

Whether that is correct, and what's going to happen to Earl Cochrane, Jimmy Brennan, Nick Dasovic and the rest of the coaching staff will eventually be revealed whenever the official press conference happens, and going by history with TFC, that probably won't be for another few days.  I'll wait until then before reading too much into all this, but it does seem positive, and proof that there was a point to Jürgen Klinsmann's time here.  If the bringing in of Winter and De Klerk from Ajax is a sign of the philosophy that Klinsmann has decided on for TFC, then it should at the very least be more entertaining than we've seen so far in the last 4 years, and if patiently stuck with, could mean great things for the academy, and thus TFC's and Canada's future.

With the caveat that they are all relatively inexperienced, with Mariner's failed managerial spell at Plymouth Argyle the only non-assistant experience between them, this seems like a really good combination and a very strong managerial team.  Winter and De Klerk will bring the Ajax style, which will hopefully flow down to the academy as well as help the first team, Mariner has the MLS experience as well as recently refreshed contacts within the English game, and Cochrane, Brennan and the rest of the holdovers from last year bring knowledge of MLS as well as the Canadian scene, and the talents, quirks and egos of the current squad.

Patience could be the key here, as one of the main planks of Ajax's success over the years has been the flow of players from their famed academy, talented and schooled from an early age in the Ajax way of playing, and it's obviously going to take a lot of time for that sort of effect to hit the first team.  Hopefully the MLS experience brought by Mariner will be enough to build a competent and competitive team in the short term, as I'm not sure the stretched too thin patience of TFC fans will be able to tolerate too long of a learning curve.  In that respect,one of management's best moves is the price freeze of season tickets for 2012.  I always thought of that not really as an apology for what happened last season, but as a pre-emptive bargaining chip in case the rebuild isn't an instant success.  If that is actually the case it would represent an admirable change from what's happened so far, with 5 coaches in 4 years.

Hopefully supporters will also give the new regime time, and the mood on the messageboards seemed to be one of cautious optimism and approval, which is a good sign.  This could be the start of something really good for the future, let's hope it works well enough in the present for that future to be given a chance.