12 January 2013
Round and round she goes
Labels: European Football , MLS
By
Enrico Scirocco - Sportswriter
MUSICAL
chairs? hot potato? pin the tail on the donkey? seems it's a bunch
of party games down at BMO these days, and Monday's latest was the
firing of Paul Mariner and Bob de Klerk, and the rumoured, but pretty
much official appointment of former New Zealand international and
'current' Queen Park Rangers defender, Ryan Nelsen, on *Tuesday.
And yes, I
mean 'current', because he still has 'obligations' for QPR and will
continue playing for them. He will miss the MLS Superdraft and who
knows how many games.
Now I
don't really know about the merits of Nelsen's appointment as the
eighth coach of Toronto FC. I have no
idea if he can coach and I'm not really sure if anyone else does
either (including himself).
I also
don't really care for Paul Mariner either for him staying or being
fired. A coach's job is to win or at least field a competitive team
with the players he's got.
I don't
think anyone can argue that even the best coach in the world could
have done much more with the roster TFC had last year, considering
all their injuries.
A coach's
job is not to take chicken shit and turn it into chicken salad.
My biggest
problem is the whole craziness that is going on with TFC. This is a
surprise to no one that follows the team but these series of events
are indefensible for a 'professional' organization.
This team
just continues to invent ways to make themselves look bad. This is
like me playing in a men's league on the weekends and coaching a kids
team during the week.
Right,
wrong, or indifferent, Aron Winter was fired back in June 2012. You
can argue if this was the right move or not, but six months ago, the
'soccer people' at **MLSE thought this was the right move.
Winter had
a direction for this team and management didn't like the direction
things were going in.
They made their move. At some point, after the firing of Winter, the top brass at TFC must have known they had a void of soccer leadership in the front office and it was probably at this time they decided they would be searching for a new president.
Someone
that would be given the keys to the team, to shape in their mould.
Someone who would bring in 'their guy' to coach the team in the style
they wanted this team to play.
So my
question: why hire Mariner as your permanent coach? Why not just add
'interim' to his title, and make fans understand it was a temporary
solution to a bigger overall problem.
Why, when
Kevin Payne was hired as president of the club, did he confirm
Mariner as the coach? Why did they have to wait six weeks to make a
move and let Mariner go?
To me,
Payne has now made a significant move, and played a trump card. He
had a coach that he could have ridden for a year while he makes the
roster moves he feels he needs to make.
I don't
think there was a lineup of teams for Nelsen, who Payne knows from
their time together at DC United, and he couldn’t have felt
pressure to hire him now.
I asked
Sportsnet journalist John Molinaro (here), and he put the question
out there himself (here), to an interesting and valid set of
responses.
Heck, he
could have brought him in as a player for a year (or half year), and
then moved him in to the coaches' roll next season. I mean, TFC's
best defender may now just be the 'coach' of this team.
Except
he's not defending for us - or coaching
Nelsen's
announcement comes after he played in QPR's 1-1 tie with West
Bromwich on Sunday and is given a ringing endorsement from his
'current' coach Harry Redknapp.
The boss said: ''Ryan is
very important to us, a fantastic leader and a top player. He's been
offered the chance of a job in America and there's every chance he
might go.
''He wants
to be a manager and he has a chance to manage a club. That's where
he's coming from.
''He's one
of the best pros I have ever met in my life. A massive part of your
team. To lose him would be a
massive blow for us.''
But
continuing to play? - sorry, I just can't get over that. As my
friend, Dave B says: ''Day one and already a
lack of commitment. I would rather he comes in as a player-manager,
bring an experienced coach with MLS experience and go from there.
''He
should be at the club in January, watching tape from last season,
talking to the coaching staff and planning targets for the draft (TFC
has first and third picks).
''The
season starts in two months. Could you imagine any other club hiring
a manager but allowing him to play for another club?!''
Well,
Dave, they did bring him in to be a player-coach. He's just not doing
either for us at the moment. The club
really does find new ways to invent craziness.
The one thing this team needed was stability. An experienced man to coach this team. I find TFC's streak of hiring first time coaches astounding.
The one thing this team needed was stability. An experienced man to coach this team. I find TFC's streak of hiring first time coaches astounding.
The last coach they hired that had any kind of senior team experience, and the last with MLS experience, was Preki in 2009 - yes, 2009! Funny enough, he's also the last coach to not have a losing record as a TFC coach (#bringbackPreki!).
Here's
hoping Nelsen can be the next winning coach of TFC, and can deal with
all the party games that are
going on down at BMO.
Let's hope
he can always find a chair, pass the potato in time, and doesn't get
stuck being the jackass.
* This
post was originally written Monday evening (7 Jan 2013) after Paul
Mariner was fired, and prior to the official announcement of Ryan
Nelsen being hired.
I've tried
to update this post based on the actual announcements made Tuesday
and tried make the most sense of this post, but this is TFC we're
talking about here - it's not supposed to make sense.
** PS - I
guess MLSE decided that had seen enough of the criticism of Toronto
FC and decided to bury it by firing Brian Burke.
Upon
hearing of Burke's dismissal, Sonja immediately suggested he take up
Nelsen's spot until the EPL season is over. Given the way this
organization is run that would not surprise me in the least.
Enrico's (@_EnricoS) article originally appeared on Sonja Missio's (@sonjamissio) site
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