Here We Go Again

So the changing of the guard begins.  Kevin Payne has left/been fired after mutually agreeing with Tim Leiweke, President and CEO of MLSE, that it was the only option.  After promising throughout his whole tenure new signings would be coming and many did not come.  He needed time to solve the cap issues of the team, which were mostly solved by releasing key players on the team. And, in my opinion, the final straw was his interview during the AS Roma friendly, when fielding questions about unnecessary friendlies and the supporters’ mentality towards them, he literally said that the supporters would have to get used to it. 

Right then, I knew that he would not survive and was ready to go through another regime change.  Payne just does not know how to have success in this MLS 2.0 world, so the official reasoning of Payne and Leiweke having differing views on how to go forward with Toronto FC being the reason he was let go is truer than it seems.   In addition to Payne, Head Scout Pat Onstad and Director of Team and Player Operations Earl Cochrane will both be leaving the club.

Leiweke will now be able to bring his guy in to be President/General Manager of Toronto FC but has stated that whoever it is, Ryan Nelson is the coach of Toronto FC.  I hope this is just posturing for good relations for the rest of the season, because if one of the requirements of being the President of TFC is that you have to use this specific coach, the person they bring in will have no actual effect on this team and the exact same fucking thing will happen again.  Welcome to TFC Land, where you dreams are nightmares and the same one happens every night.

Oh wait the nightmare is getting worse, during the Leiweke conference call everything he was saying about the release of Kevin Payne and company was good until questions of the Argos were asked.  Leiweke did not immediately shut down the idea of the Argos moving to BMO Field which would also bring turf back, and changes to BMO Field stands.  If this comes to fruition it could be the end to the nightmare but in the sense that MLS soccer would no longer be in Toronto.  Furthermore, if turf is put in that would be the end of CMNT/CWNT games in Toronto.  Just as soccer is beginning to take off across the country, it will be dead in Toronto.