In the end, it’s simple.
Rohan Ricketts, young English midfielder for Toronto FC, simply didn’t make the cut.
Loved by the fans – even as his play frustrated them – Rohan could never blend his skills with the TFC system. No matter how many times that system changed, the fit was never found.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
This afternoon, he took a buyout, and was unconditionally released.
I have huge sympathy for the guy. He came across the ocean to a strange, puzzling league. He danced out on some dreadful plastic, and tried to force a playing style that demanded both speed and finesse. But his speed was ultimately too fast for his subtlety.
He was well paid for his time, but his game was in trouble.
See, MLS is a tough, physical league – painfully short of art most nights. Defenders didn’t care about Rohan beating them down the wings, because they knew there would always be help arriving behind them. Once word got out that all you had to do was let the guy tightrope the touchline and it was over, that’s pretty much what every other team that faced him did.
Rohan could have broken this in half if he could have got some good passes and crosses in. But he didn’t.
Easy for me to say? Certainly. He’s on the field, and I’m up in the rafters. He’s the one who’s got to make the pass. All I have to do is see it.
But I didn’t. Not nearly often enough.
By the time this season started, Rohan was still quite popular with the fans. But he had lost the pressbox. Oh, you’d hear the odd, optimistic note, but mostly the rafter rats had given up the long watch for things which now seemed clearly not to be coming.
See, wing play has never been Toronto FC’s strong point. When John Carver was bounced as coach, new man Chris Cummins dumped the concept completely. In general, he turned Amado Guevara loose in the middle, and let the fullbacks and strikers carve up the sideline duties.
This meant more open pals to pass to. The number of solo suicide runs down the wing has hovered comfortably close to zero ever since.
To his credit, in very limited playing time, Rohan seemed to be adjusting. But comfort on the ball just wasn’t there. All over the stadium, you could hear the footsteps he was hearing. His play was rushed, and hurry hurt his distribution. And then the team started making changes. And Rohan’s time in Toronto – inevitably – ran out.
It’s hard to be in trouble so far from home. Back in 1986, I bombed out as a CBC radio reporter in Iqaluit, on Baffin Island. It was a big break, and it went bust. One of the hardest times in my life. I’m sure that if Rohan and I ever got a chance to hoist some pints and compare notes, we’d find CBC Baffin and Toronto FC have quite a lot in common.
Sometimes, it just don’t work out. It’s awful, but that’s the game. And the game is always bigger than the player.
A few weeks back, Rohan’s Twitter account served up some ringing high notes of discontent. Anger over being unwanted. Biting about being told there was no trade out there for him.
He quickly stepped in to say he’d been hacked. On “It’s Called Football” this past Monday, he elaborated, saying a few people have access to his account. But the alleged fake messages were never removed. That’s the first thing I’d do if someone started writing on my blog under my name. But then again, I’m not Rohan.
For what little it’s worth, I don’t believe the hack story. I think those posts were simply Rohan telling the truth – in a business where the truth isn’t always good for business.
He did rip home some fine goals for TFC, but they tended to be solo shots. On a team starving for good, consistent service from the wings, this funny, popular, outspoken lad became yet another young hopeful unable to solve the problem.
Whatever happened in the back room – and whoever Tweeted what – Rohan Ricketts’ job on the field in Toronto simply did not get done.
The deeper details may yet make some amusing journalism some day. But other than that, they really don’t matter at all.
But I do – certainly – wish him lots of luck.
Onward!