View From The Shires: Turmoil in Toronto
If there was an award for the most dysfunctional franchise across the major American pro sports leagues, Toronto FC would almost certainly be the frontrunners.
Since their entry into MLS, in 2007, the league’s first Canadian franchise has been in a constant state of fluctuation, battling managerial changes and endless roster turnover in search of that elusive first playoff appearance – a goal which currently feels further away than ever. One could cite numerous occasions over the past few years which could be described as ‘tipping points’, such has been the ever-growing disorder, but if there were one event which seemingly sparked the most fervent reaction it would be last week’s resignation of Chief Operating Officer Tom Anselmi from Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) – the company which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, Raptors, Marlies and Toronto FC.
Anselmi’s resignation came just days after TFC’s Club President and General Manager Kevin Payne was fired, having only been appointed to the role in November of last year to front the franchise’s latest rebuilding efforts. Payne was a highly-touted hire, thanks to successful spell with D.C. United, but his blueprint for success stood for just a mere nine months, with failure to entice any big-name players to Toronto allegedly rumoured to be the reason for his axing. The man behind Payne’s firing (and likely Anselmi’s resignation) is Tim Leiweke – the former President and CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group (the owners of the LA Galaxy), who was appointed to the same role by MLSE in April to lead the transformation of the group’s various franchises. In this respect, neither move, though unexpected, was particularly shocking, with many fans relieved to see one of the pillars of the dysfunctional front office gone, whilst also having already grown tired of Payne’s broken promises and baffling personnel decisions. Instead, the reason for such an outspoken reaction amongst fans and the Toronto media alike has simply been frustration – frustration that the moves mark yet another year of the dreaded word ‘rebuilding’ echoing through the concourse of BMO Field.
This wasn’t always a club surrounded by doom and gloom. During its first season in the league, after much scepticism surrounding the city’s ability to support a franchise, Toronto quickly established itself as a team with significant fan support, becoming the attendance darlings of MLS and setting a benchmark for others to follow. At a time when the league was just beginning to truly take off, after a few years of stagnation, it was TFC who were being held up as the model franchise for fan experience and atmosphere. Granted, performances on the pitch were not up to the same standard but, with the support in the stands, it was hard not to be excited about what was unfolding north of the border.
Outside of their Canadian Championships wins however, fans have had little to shout about since their inaugural season.
2009 has been the closest the club has come to post-season appearance (having suffered a crushing 5-0 defeat to the New York Red Bulls on the last day of the season which saw them finish one place outside the playoff spots) and things have only gone downhill in the ensuing years. Managers Mo Johnston, John Carver, Chris Cummins, Preki, Nick Dasovic, Aaron Winter and Paul Mariner have all come and gone, while even the hiring of Jurgen Klinsmann as a consultant for the 2011 season did little fix the on-field product. It speaks to a larger problem of Toronto being a club quite simply struggling to find an on-pitch identity – torn between whether to build through a hard-nosed North American core of players or to invest in a more adventurous European model.
That indecisiveness, combined with the various managerial changes, has duly played havoc with the roster, with turnover growing at an ever ridiculous rate over recent seasons, leaving the team with no star player or even fan favourites to speak of. Outside of goalkeeper Stefan Frei, who was drafted in 2009, not one player on the roster was with the club before 2011. That’s not to say that Toronto hasn’t tried in the past to build that so-called ‘club identity’.
In 2009 Canadian hometown-favourites Dwayne DeRosario, Adrian Serioux and Julian DeGuzman were all brought in to boost the club’s playoff chances, while young draft picks Frei, Sam Cronin and O’Brian White looked like they could be solid building blocks for the future. Combined with the stalwarts that were club captain Jim Brennan, industrious midfielder Carl Robinson and volatile playmaker Amado Guevara, it seemed very much as though Toronto were starting to mould together a line-up which could be genuine contenders. That team however was promptly dismantled in 2010 by the incoming Preki, who in turn saw the side he constructed during his lone season in charge overhauled by predecessor Aron Winter. A noted product of Ajax’s academy, Winter was evidently billed as the man to instil that European flavour of soccer in Toronto but, despite bringing in the now retired Torsten Frings and Danny Koevermans as designated players, his tenure was another empty affair.
After a contract dispute with the front office, DeRosario was controversially traded in early 2011, while Winter side’s used an MLS record 39 players over the course of the season, on their way to a fifth-straight year with no playoff appearance to show for their efforts. Winter would resign midway through the 2012 season, with the club going on the finish bottom of the league, after recording only five wins from their 34 games, prompting the club to introduce yet more wholesale changes which, up to last week, were being spearheaded by Kevin Payne. Payne’s choice of head coach, the inexperienced Ryan Nelsen, still remains in charge for now but, with Toronto again far adrift at the bottom of the table (sparred from last place by only D.C. United’s turgid campaign) and Leiweke no doubt wanting to further assert his influence, it’s hard to imagine the former Premier League defender lasting beyond this season.
That’s simply a brief overview of on-going process which has left the current Toronto side with no iconic player, no team ethos to promote and no populist coach to identify with. Even the once proud attendance rate has now dwindled, with MLS’ shiny new toys such as Seattle and Portland replacing TFC as the figurehead franchises for game-day atmosphere. The cupboard is essentially bare and it’s clear where the bulk of the blame ultimately lays – the front office. Every year promises are made of how things will be done right, lessons have been learned, mistakes rectified and rebuilding will be done the right way, yet every year the process seems to repeat itself. While it’s easy to blame the men who pick the team or who make the roster moves, one has to wonder why those at MLSE can’t simply let whoever is in charge get on with their job and let their ideas take shape. In fact, one doesn’t have to wonder – it’s simply a matter of impatience.
Furthermore, if all these figures who’ve been and gone truly deserved to be handed their walking papers then surely that says more about the front office’s inability to find and hire qualified personnel? Poor decision may have ultimately been made by figures such as Kevin Payne (most notably trading away the team’s lone bright spot in Luis Silva) but Kevin Payne is not the reason TFC are in their current predicament, a dysfunctional and largely clueless ownership group is – one which simply does not know how to go about creating a winning franchise. Real Salt Lake have done it, Seattle have done it, Montreal and Portland are doing it, yet for some reason Toronto still hasn’t figured it out. Some have even begged the question whether TFC was really ever about creating a successful soccer team and more about MLSE capitalising on the latest opportunity to produce entertainment dollars – especially when meaningless midseason friendlies against big-name opposition are placed at the forefront of marketing campaigns, ahead of the actual games which matter.
With the recent changes, there is again hope that perhaps things will be different this time around but one certainly isn’t holding out any hope over this latest Leiweke-lead rebuilding phase. In the most recent head-scratching move, the club traded away newly acquired DP Maximiliano Urruti (a player they had been pursuing for over six months) to Portland after only 24 days and 37 minutes of action, receiving striker Bright Dike, a 2015 first-round draft pick and allocation money in return. If the club’s ultimate ambition is to further baffle and anger fans then they’re certainly going the right way about it, but something tells me that’s probably not their goal here, no matter how ridiculous such decisions may look. Nevertheless, attendance figures continue to slide and support is growing increasingly weary. There’s only so much more Toronto fans will take of this and if signs aren’t apparent soon that steps are being taken in the right direction then supporters will continue to vote with their feet. While disappointing to see what was once such a promising franchise now on its knees, after all the instability over recent seasons, one can hardly blame fans if they start to turn away from such a shoddily packaged product.
