Toronto FC changes for 2013

[Gian-Luca]

The rumour I heard going around is that Payne listened to the existing FO management on what to do with Plata (which must have been Cochrane? who else could it be).

Plata was traded on January 30. Which means Payne was well into his tenure (he was hired right before the 2012 MLS Cup).

Yes, though given that Payne could probably make up his own mind based on what he would have seen on the field of play, it suggests that either Payne is also an idiot (which I've yet to see any other evidence of) or more likely IMO, the player-club relationship with Plata had already deteriorated long before that and there was little Payne could do to resurrect it, necessitating the trade. Given the swiftness of how Plata was off the field the moment Mariner was in charge, that something personal happened between the two, perhaps even prior to Winter's departure, that would lend credence to this possibility.

[RS]

more likely IMO, the player-club relationship with Plata had already deteriorated long before that and there was little Payne could do to resurrect it, necessitating the trade.

Substitute Plata with "De Rosario" and Payne with "Winter", and it's a carbon copy of the earlier situation.

[Gian-Luca]

And what did they get in return for Plata? as far as i can tell nothing.

With a salary cap league sometimes that happens - teams give up big salary players in order to clear cap space. We gave up nothing to get DeRo (no offense to Julius James). But I don't recall that Plata was in a DeRo salary position, so they can't use it as an excuse here.

[narduch]

Plata is only making $60,000. So it obviously had little to do with that.

Sure the seeds of his departure were sown under Mariner. Its just a shame that they couldn't be fixed (and probably couldn't with Cochrane still around).

But part of the reason TFC continually struggles is the absolute poor use of its assets. (Hassli is another example). I realize Payne is just cleaning up the previous regimes mess in this case but eventually it all adds up.

[Free kick]

I am not convinced that Bendik is an upgrade over Frey

[Free kick]

LOL. I agree with this. Kind of explains the love for Eckersley by the fanbase, who only had a cup of coffee with Manchester United and essentially came to TFC as a League Two reject. This club's fans have a long had a history of falling for bad players from England. I do think it has to do with the fact that a large portion of the fanbase follows the game in England the most. I think that's part of the reason why Nelson was hired (ex. EPL player is easy to sell to some people) and why guys like Earnshaw are still so highly regarded despite poor play (a Championship stand out striker in the past).

I?

Yes. I completely agree with this. Although i dont think that Eckersley is necessarily a bad player. But getting back to the players and overrating them just because they play in England, i find that an equally common thing is that a lot players that are really just average, get highly regarded when they really dont deserve it.

[Free kick]

I am not convinced that Bendik is an upgrade over Frey

Ps .: i was responding to Ivan's point about who we got for Johnson.

[El Hombre]

I am not convinced that Bendik is an upgrade over Frey

I think the fact that Bendik has yet to sustain an injury makes him an immediate upgrade on Frei.

[ag futbol]

I am not convinced that Bendik is an upgrade over Frey

Thank you. I'm glad somebody said it. What he makes up for in controlling the box, he loses with his distribution. We took one mid level MLS keeper and replaced him with another one. Nice to have depth and a cheaper option, but I think he gets a little too much praise considering what he offers.

As far as the draft goes, it's hard to evaluate it because of a lack of disclosure on allocation amounts. However, I still think they potentially misfired taking Bekker potentially for two reasons: 1) because they seem more interested in refining his game than using the skill set that he has 2) because as of right now, you have fair number of guys who have contributed more to their teams in their rookie seasons.

[narduch]

I don't totally blame Bendik for his poor distribution, some of that blame has to go to the coaching staff, who must be asking him to boot the ball down the field.

[Yohan]

Thank you. I'm glad somebody said it. What he makes up for in controlling the box, he loses with his distribution. We took one mid level MLS keeper and replaced him with another one. Nice to have depth and a cheaper option, but I think he gets a little too much praise considering what he offers.

As far as the draft goes, it's hard to evaluate it because of a lack of disclosure on allocation amounts. However, I still think they potentially misfired taking Bekker potentially for two reasons: 1) because they seem more interested in refining his game than using the skill set that he has 2) because as of right now, you have fair number of guys who have contributed more to their teams in their rookie seasons.

I'll admit my bias first. I'm still not 100% forgiven Frei for that disgraceful 6-0 loss to Montreal lol.

I think most people will agree that Bendik and Frei are pretty equal in ability, if not, the difference is negligible who is better.

Moneyball says Bendik is a bargain to compared to Frei's salary. I suppose some will argue that Frei would play equal to his 150k-200k salary if he had the chance, but the fact is, Bendik hasn't done much to warrant him losing his starter job.

As for Bekker, I'd say he's a long term project now, and that doesn't necessarily means he'll end up being a bad player. Enough top picks in MLS got drafted early, took a while to develop their skills, and still end up having a good career. (though jury is still out on Andrew Wenger and Darren Mattocks)

[Ivan]

Kocic was (is) an average MLS keeper at best. Bendik and Frei are both above average in my opinion. Unfortunately, acquiring Bendik should have allowed us to trade Frei for more assets, but he makes to much money and is unmovable - negating his value.

[narduch]

The Star is reporting that Payne is out:

http://www.thestar.com/sports/tfc/2013/09/04/toronto_fc_parts_ways_with_presidentgm_kevin_payne_kelly.html

Nelsen survived but I have a feeling Leiweick will want someone with more experience in that position as well.

No word on the replacement yet.

[zeelaw]

This is wild.

[VWFC]

The Star is reporting that Payne is out:

http://www.thestar.com/sports/tfc/2013/09/04/toronto_fc_parts_ways_with_presidentgm_kevin_payne_kelly.html

Nelsen survived but I have a feeling Leiweick will want someone with more experience in that position as well.

No word on the replacement yet.

I honestly feel bad for you guys.

[maccaliam]

What the friar tuck? How can there already be another firing? More to come no doubt.

[ag futbol]

I honestly feel bad for you guys.

What we lack in winning we more than make up for with dysfunction.

I think game of thrones is simply a cheap knock-off of TFC office politics.

[ray]

Pushing the reset button much? Almost certainly TFC will have yet another head coach by the start of next season. Unbelievable.

This is all on Leiweke. He'd had better be right.

[TFC07]

Meh. It was going to happen sooner or later. Leiweke and Payne can't work with each other (some bad blood btw those two in the past?) These two have big egos and have two completely different philosophy of building a team. Shocking part was it happened this quickly.

Payne has failed to bring in a big name DP in summer window which cause him his job (final nails in his coffin). Leiweke and new owners (or Rogers at least based what they have done with Blue Jays) is all about being flashy and going all out! Next season is going to be a big season for TFC (we got two DP slots to use next season).

I am sure CSN bloggers are going to be thrilled with this firing. lol

[JimmyJames]

Still a joke...you need more than 9 months...I do not disagree with previous posts however.

[Gian-Luca]

Meh. It was going to happen sooner or later. Leiweke and Payne can't work with each other (some bad blood btw those two in the past?) These two have big egos and have two completely different philosophy of building a team. Shocking part was it happened this quickly.

Payne has failed to bring in a big name DP in summer window which cause him his job (final nails in his coffin). Leiweke and new owners (or Rogers at least based what they have done with Blue Jays) is all about being flashy and going all out!

That doesn't sound promising. Isn't that what didn't work just prior to Payne with all the aging DP's?

I didn't see this move coming at this time and am annoyed by it. I agree that 9 months isn't enough for a GM to put a stamp on the team and given that we were incredibly bad shape roster wise when Payne came in, I could see the progress with respect to the roster moves even if Payne didn't get everyone he wanted in terms of signings. The progress was slow (but definitely there) but realistically it had to be slow under the circumstances, particularly with the one senior DP we have (that Payne didn't sign) injured for pretty much the whole year and taking half the team's goals away with him.

[canadianfoot]

http://m.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/09/04/report-toronto-fc-part-ways-president-and-gm-kevin-payne

The Toronto Star on Wednesday reported that Toronto FC have parted ways with president and GM Kevin Payne less than a year after hiring the former long-time D.C. United chief executive.

Toronto FC declined to comment on the report when contacted by MLSsoccer.com. But Payne did speak to the Star about his impending departure, although the article says he'll stay on for the transition.

“I’m disappointed, but this is the way this business works,” Payne told the paper. “I was a little bit surprised, but I understand that Tim [Leiweke] wants to move — not in a dramatically different — but in a somewhat different direction."

Leiweke is the former chief executive of AEG, owners of the defending two-time MLS champions LA Galaxy, who was hired in April as president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, owners of Toronto FC. Leiweke came in a few months after Payne took over the reins of the soccer team as president and GM in November 2012.

One of Payne's biggest moves was hiring one of his ex-D.C. players, Ryan Nelsen, as new TFC manager. However, the wholesale changes made to the roster under Payne and Nelsen have not produced the desired results with Toronto FC compiling a 4-12-10 record in 2013, the second-worst in the league.

Sitting 15 points out of the fifth and final playoff spot in the East with just eight games to play, TFC look set to miss out on the MLS Cup Playoffs for the seventh consecutive season.

The Reds have yet to make the postseason since coming into existence in 2007.

---------------

http://www.torontofc.ca/video/2013/08/09/kevin-payne-august-9-2013

-----------

http://www.tsn.ca/soccer/mls/story/?id=431181

TORONTO -- Toronto FC has claimed another body.

The underachieving Major League Soccer club fired president and general manager Kevin Payne.

The club has not made the move official but Payne told The Canadian Press that he was leaving.

"I wish TFC and its supporters all the best," he said in a text. "I'm confident the team is in a great position heading into next year and I'm proud of that.

"I understand the desire to move forward in a different direction and want nothing but the best for the club."

Payne said he had no other role with the team but had agreed "to help with the transition."

The former D.C. United executive arrived in late November with the task of turning around the worst team in Major League Soccer. But progress has been hard to find and the team, which has never made the playoffs, stands tied for 18th in the 19-team league with a 4-12-10 record.

Ultimately Payne paid the price for yet more failure at a franchise that is losing fans as well as matches.

It didn't help that he was hired before Tim Leiweke took over as president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the team.

Payne, 60, may also have suffered for his penchant for talking. Like the manager he hired -- rookie coach Ryan Nelsen -- he complained this season about the team getting a raw deal from officials.

That is not Leiweke's style.

"I tend to believe that sitting here and revisiting those calls doesn't serve much of a purpose," the MLSE boss said in a July interview with The Canadian Press. "And so we probably have to as an organization spend less time bitching and more time just moving on and understanding that sometimes that's the way those calls are going to go."

Both Payne and Nelsen also complained about the salary cap handcuffs they had inherited.

And Payne liked to talk about his master-plan, detailing imminent player moves that proved to be not so imminent.

Payne also raised some hackles at the club early on when he questioned the fitness level of some players in pre-season without naming names.

"Lots of guys did a great job and came back in great shape," he said in January. "But there were more than one or two who were not even close to being fit. I have a hard time understanding that. Ryan feels the same way ... There's just no excuse for it."

Payne, while clearly dedicated to his task, seemed to come across as thinking he was the smartest man in the room.

Then Leiweke arrived. He oversaw the Los Angeles Galaxy during his time in charge of AEG, helping bring David Beckham and Robbie Keane to the team.

Leiweke spoke favourably of Payne -- "He knows where the bodies are buried and he knows what it takes to build a championship team" -- in a June 4 in-house interview aired on YouTube.

And he said in July he would wait until the end of the season to assess the team's management, explaining he didn't think it was "fair or proper to get into an analysis" mid-season.

Toronto was 2-10-8 at the time. It apparently took Leiweke two wins, two losses and two ties to change his mind.

The club, which plays Saturday in Portland, has eight games remaining this season.

Payne arrived with a flourish, wearing one of his four MLS championship rings to his Toronto FC introduction. The former D.C. United boss routinely wears one of his rings, but wasn't going to at the news conference in Toronto until wife Pam changed his mind.

"I said to my wife this is weird. For the first time since '97 -- when I got the '96 ring -- I'm not going to put on a championship ring," he related Nov. 28 after being unveiled in Toronto.

"And she said 'I think you should put it on.' I said 'Well, I don't want to be always talking about D.C.' She said 'But you need to get people to aspire to win their own ring. Understand that that's the goal.' So that's why I'm wearing it."

Payne was Toronto FC's first president. He became the soccer team's equivalent to the Leafs' Brian Burke and the Raptors' Bryan Colangelo, both of whom have since moved on.

"We found the right guy," Tom Anselmi, MLSE's COO, said at the time.

"I think it's probably THE best signing that we'll make," added head coach Paul Mariner, who was soon to be dumped by Payne in favour of Nelsen.

Nelsen is the team's eighth manager in seven seasons.

Until his resignation as president and CEO just days before joining TFC, Payne had spent 17 years at D.C. United -- helping the franchise find its feet in time for the debut MLS season in 1996.

Payne joined a Toronto franchise that has failed to make the playoffs since its inception in 2007, winning just 45 games over those six seasons.

Toronto (5-21-8) posted franchise worsts in 2012 for wins (five), losses (21), points (23), goals against (62) and winless string (14).

"I really love to build things," he said when asked about why he would take charge of such a floundering franchise.

Payne has helped set the stage for whoever takes over. The team has shed the big contracts of the likes of Torsten Frings and Darren O'Dea and the 2014 salary cap situation will offer far more flexibility.

There is also a base of good young talent at the club. But the franchise continues to disappoint.

---------------------

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/report-tfc-fires-club-president-payne/

The Kevin Payne era at Toronto FC lasted less than one year.

Installed as team president and general manager last November, Payne was fired by the Major League Soccer club on Wednesday.

The Toronto Star first reported the story on Wednesday afternoon. Shortly after, Payne confirmed he had been let go by TFC via text when contacted by sportsnet.ca.

"I wish nothing but the best for TFC and hope you get to cover a playoff match next year," Payne wrote in one of his texts.

Payne’s departure signals the first major shakeup within Toronto FC since June 30 when Tim Leiweke took over as president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), the company that owns the MLS team.

Rookie coach Ryan Nelsen, who was hired by Payne, appears to be safe. The former New Zealand international was in meetings all day on Wednesday and will travel with the team on Thursday to Oregon in preparation for the Reds’ road game against the Portland Timbers this weekend.

Wednesday marked the farewell to the latest “saviour” who was supposed to finally lift TFC out of the doldrums and help it achieve respectability.

Before coming to Toronto, Payne spent the previous 17 seasons with D.C. United where he was the key figure in building the franchise into one of the most successful teams in league history. During his time as president and chief executive officer, D.C. United won four MLS Cup titles, four MLS Supporters Shields and two U.S. Open Cups.

The hope was he could do the same for TFC, especially when he was introduced as the club’s first dedicated club president to run the entire soccer operation. The Reds had previously been overseen by former MLSE boss Tom Anselmi, an executive with little soccer knowledge, unlike Payne.

Payne inherited a Toronto team riddled with bad contracts and little salary cap room. TFC was also coming off its worst ever MLS campaign, finishing dead last in 2012 with a 5-21-8 record and missing the playoffs for the sixth straight year. They also set a new league record by losing their first nine games of the campaign.

Payne was brought in by Anslemi with a mandate to help turn around TFC and end its playoff drought. It didn’t quite work out that way, though. Payne leaves Toronto with the club sitting in second-last place in the 19-team league, with a 4-12-10 record and 22 points, and with the fan base even more disenfranchised than when he arrived.

Although technically still in contention for a post-season berth, the Reds were essentially out of the playoff race by the early part of the summer as the team struggled to earn results under Nelsen.

At the time of his hiring in January, Nelsen was still an active player with Queens Park Rangers in the English Premier League, and had previously played for D.C. United during Payne’s tenure. It was a bold, if not risky hire, because Nelsen had no previous coaching experience, and he even admitted at his introductory press conference that he hadn’t even taken any coaching courses.

[tmcmurph]

I used to care because I firmly feel that having a successful MLS team is the key to developing soccer in Canada. Having a team like this in our largest market is just sad. Except for their 4th season where they just missed the playoffs by one game TFC have mostly been the doormats of the league. For the good of soccer in Canada we really need all 3 Canadian franchises to be in the playoffs regularly.

I wish I could care but I just can't. Just some observations from a distant and somewhat disinterested fan of another team.

9 months? WTF? Can't land a big name so out with you? WTF? I seriously think Leiweke & MLSE/Rogers expected to base the season ticket push on another big name signing or two (again? still?). They seem to care more about marketing the team than building it. Could even a Sigi or Arena get TFC's house in order in 9 months? I doubt it.

Good luck next year guys.

[madmonte]

I used to care because I firmly feel that having a successful MLS team is the key to developing soccer in Canada.

I still feel this way as well. But they need to build players on a solid foundation of winning, and they just have not been able to do that. It's like promising the earth, and then giving a grave. Players need to be taught how to win. TFC plays the most Canadians, and the national team at times seems biased in picking it's players FROM TFC.

Culture. How do you develop a culture of winning? I want nothing more than for TFC to win, with some Canadian players getting minutes and getting good for the national team, if at all possible.

At the moment, Teibert is learning from a culture of winning. And you can see it in his play, his style has confidence. Winning breeds confidence. And confidence breeds winning. They feed each other. Something has to give in Toronto eventually? Unfortunately, that's been a mantra for years.

[TFC07]

That doesn't sound promising. Isn't that what didn't work just prior to Payne with all the aging DP's?

I didn't see this move coming at this time and am annoyed by it. I agree that 9 months isn't enough for a GM to put a stamp on the team and given that we were incredibly bad shape roster wise when Payne came in, I could see the progress with respect to the roster moves even if Payne didn't get everyone he wanted in terms of signings. The progress was slow (but definitely there) but realistically it had to be slow under the circumstances, particularly with the one senior DP we have (that Payne didn't sign) injured for pretty much the whole year and taking half the team's goals away with him.

Remember that Payne was hired before Lewieke! It's not like Lewieke hired him.

Lewieke is going to bring his own guys that fits his vision for this team. We have seen that with Raptors and we're going to see the same with TFC. Except Lewieke to clean house in TFC FO now. Nelsen will probably be gone next season if we don't see results.