This was going to be such an easy piece to write.

Paul Mariner bounced (Yes!!). New TFC coach selected (Yes!!). Clear picture of where this club is finally going (Yes!).

And then it turned into an improv comedy sketch.
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The first step, always, is to admit you have a problem.

Ten games into the season just past, acting Toronto FC president Tom Anselmi fired coach/GM Aron Winter, tossed all the keys to Paul Mariner, and finally admitted to himself that the biggest anchor holding back ye goode shyppe TFC was a brutal lack of soccer-savvy leadership.

There were many options available at that point, but all the twelve-step programs agree on the need to surrender your addiction to a higher power.

And yesterday, with the hiring of D.C. United founder Kevin Payne as incoming president and general manager of Toronto FC, that’s exactly what Anselmi did.

The higher power in question wasn’t god or the universe, however. In the end, solving the problem fell to the real and ultimate owners of this baffled, embattled franchise:

Major League Soccer itself.
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I’ve been dreading doing this, but the truth needs saying and no one else is saying it.

It’s time to renew your annual financial commitment to Toronto FC.

Please don’t.

Here’s what you get, if you do:
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Montreal fires coaches without just cause.

Toronto hires coaches without just cause.

Onward! ...

Hire a president, dammit.

Onward! ...

If you haven’t yet read John Molinaro’s excellent critique of the current state of Toronto pro soccer under the bland and heavy thumb of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, please take a moment to do so. Then come right back. We have some matters to discuss.

Hi.

The bit I want to zoom in on is Sportsnet analyst and former Canadian national team goaltender Craig Forrest bluntly telling MLSE castle king Tom Anselmi that TFC’s management structure needs to be fixed, and Anselmi responding “We’ll take that under advisement.”

Please allow me to amplify, just in case anyone in the MLSE candy shoppe is nibbling a tasty bit of Canadian Soccer News along with their morning fudge.
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