state of the 'team'....

[Beach_Red]

My nightmare:

We limp into the playoffs

We get trounced in the 1st round.

We're told that they met their goal of making the play-offs, that this season was an improvement over last etc.

Mo doesn't get fired.

Do you think anything that happened between last November and now would have been different if Mo had been fired and Preki given both jobs?

Until MLSE give the same deal to TFC's GM that they give to the Raptors and Leafs GM it doesn't matter who's in the job. In fact, it's probably better to have someone between Preki (or whoever's running the team day-to-day) and the suits at MLSE. Could another GM get more out of MLSE? Maybe, but maybe not. They're no going to spend for another DP this year, and maybe next guy will have to start over and sella player before he gets to sign a DP. Take a good hard look at the company and the way they've run the team so far and take personalities out of it and then consider what would be best.

Besides, it's not going to matter, your worst nightmare is going to come true - TFC is going to make the playoffs by many points and then go deep.

[CretanBull]

Do you think anything that happened between last November and now would have been different if Mo had been fired and Preki given both jobs?

Mo's decisions last season have hamstrung the team this season, so you're right in suggesting that nothing significant would be different in terms of the team we have now. The major difference is that someone would have been held accountable for their decisions, and maybe that is a principal that the team could build on.

The message could have been "we'll give you the freedom to do what you want, if you succeed the glory is yours, but if you fail the blame is yours" instead the message is "don't worry if you screw up, we'll extend your contract and give you a chance to fix your mistakes".

Mo should have been fired the night we lost 5-0 to NYRB. Not because we lost that game, and not because we didn't make the playoffs. He should have been fired at that moment because it was then that it was undeniable to anyone that the team he put together was severly flawed and the season was a failure. Instead we heard nothing but "hey, we missed the play-offs by 1 point, it was our best season yet!". Once they allowed themselves to think that the season was almost a success that we just missed out was the moment that this season was doomed.

[Beach_Red]

^ Oh, this team was doomed long before then. Look, you see a series of decisions from the senior management that is consistent over years and suddenly expect after one game a change of direction?

They did say, "We'll give you the freedom to do what you want," but only after a couple of short-term contracts and a series of goals were met - that wasn't the deal from day one.

That's where the mistake was made. If they had jumped into this thing whole-heartedly and let all that happen the first year - the signing of a DP, the building of the infrastructure and so on, then we wouldn't be in this mess. But they set up a series of goals and the team made them. So the, "freedom to do what you want," was given out a little at a time instead of all at once (like it's supposedly was for Brian Burke).

These results are exactly what that style of management gets.

[Steve]

My nightmare:

We limp into the playoffs

We get trounced in the 1st round.

We're told that they met their goal of making the play-offs, that this season was an improvement over last etc.

Mo doesn't get fired.

If this is your nightmare, what are your thoughts on Preki? I mean, look at his history, though his team has always made it to the post season (more than we can say) they NEVER make it past the first round. So, if that happens, is that more Preki or Mo?

Personally, I think I understand how it always happens to Preki. Preki doesn't like skilled players who will disappear for a game or two, he wants consistent role players who will be the same game in game out. That means he tends to build teams that will work hard, make it into the playoffs (since the top half of teams do in this league), but not make it far because the playoffs are for players who can step up their game, and Preki gets rid of those players.

[Antonio Gramsci]

I very much like Boris' opening post.

Though I hope the team does well this season and think it is too early to get militant, I am not optimistic.

Mo is a disaster. The responsibility for the state of the team rests with him, and with MLSE for having given him another year when he should have been handed his papers before getting on the plane back from New York.

However, if "putting the team on notice" is not enough, I think some very serious thought has to go into what comes next. Protest needs to be focussed to be effective. And, as some people have indicated, we want to be careful to be supporting the team while promoting change at the top. That's not an easy combination, and care is required.

There's a nice article from When Saturday Comes looking at various fan protests in the English League which might serve as models. I also think that Section 8's work in getting the Fire to deal with racism among the security staff has some important lessons as well.

All serious fans need to take this seriously. I'll be TFC 'till I die but I'll be goddamned if I let MLSE treat us like Leafs fans.