I'm currently in Belize, but as i was flying out of Toronto on Saturday morning, I bumped into Alan Gordon. Said I'm a huge fan, asked about his trade. He's a great guy, very cool and very nice and he was VERY candid about his short time at TFC. Take this for what you will, I'm sure some of this is sour grapes, but it's definitely interesting insight.
He said he believes he was traded because he got into a fight with a trainer over being forced to play too much too sun while recovering from injury. He said he was barely supposed to play in the Houston game, for instance.
As far as coaching goes, I said to him that to me, Winter resembles Ruud Gullit. He said: "I've played for both of them. They're the exact same person."
He said the coaches have done a horrible job explaining the "system' to the players and added that many just don't get it. He said they do a lot of passing drills in practice, more than he's ever seen, but when a player asks a question about how the system works beyond just "attacking, possession-oriented football," there are no answers. Players are just running around in confusion.
He said he thinks Winter is completely lost, in way over his head, and that he feels bad for the fans and the supporters because this team is not going to be very successful any time soon.
I wrapped up my chat with him by wishing him good luck, but asking him to take it easy when TFC plays San Jose next.