I say sell the team to the players on the Maple Leafs. It will give them something to do each spring through fall.
I say sell the team to the players on the Maple Leafs. It will give them something to do each spring through fall.
If you'd like to go back to the 19th century ago and start an athletic club with a soccer team, by all means go ahead.Originally Posted by 69Chevy396
Founding a club that has a team that eventually becomes professional and then ultimately "world class" is not the same thing as getting a group of wildly disparate and self-motivated people together to buy an existing franchise, in 2012 dollars and 2012 operating costs in a league where not a lot of teams make money and 7-figure sums must be spent on designated players with no other collective ties than their minute ownership of said franchise.
Agreed. However, one thing that isn't speculative opinion is our record of futility over multiple years with multiple coaches and mulitple players.
So, if the "President" has no impact on the style of play (tactics), and decisions made by his managers, then what is the point of having him? Clearly, we need help.
If the "President" has an impact through the decision of who to hire and how much freedom they give to operate, then clearly it isn't working. He hasn't been able to make an impactful decision on delegation of reponsibility since he has been here. That "President" should be replaced.
If the "President" is in fact meddling in the day to day operations then clearly, that isn't working either and needs to end.
Outside of profits generated, I'm not sure how anyone can reach the conclusion that he should keep his job as leader of this football club. Certainly, within the MLSE empire there is a place for him but not anywhere close to influencing the results of this team.
The Players. The Organizational structure. The lack of Defence. The lack of Midfield. We're unlucky. Injury. Money. No grass. Coach A, compared to B, C, D, E or F. No proper practice facility. Some egos are too big. There's no heart. The System. The implementation of the System. The tactics in game. The lack of tactics in game. Supporters don't stop buying beer, so the impact isn't felt. The Supporters Kit is considered "M'eh" by some. Too many bugs at the field.
I've heard each one of these since inception. I don't notice consistency per se, but notice these excuses / reasons seem timely.
I am likely simplifying this - as I don't know what Anselmi's role is in reality (I can speculate based on what I hear, his title and when I've spoken with him). I know he's likely not wanting to lose, but as far as I can tell, outside of Paul B. (who clearly has nothing to do with the club on the field, imo), he's the only consistent factor in a losing franchise.
If this is the only consistent element, I'd suggest at least putting him under strong scrutiny and asking more poignant questions that test whether he is making an impact. Some may jump to firing - I don't know that this is the path just yet - but I would prefer him at least under a spot light with the understanding that this could happen.
well, 5 of those managers were under the control of Mo Johnston...i don't think we need to further expand on that. the sixth manager has had a season and a half, and quite frankly, we are moving backwards in terms of results.
football descisions are NOT made by Anselmi, and the fact he is now the 'target' of your wrath just smells of desperation for blame. you are desperate for one simple reason....the obvious course of action is to fire the manager, and that is percieved as a 'back to square 1' mentality.
firing Anselmi will do nothing for TFC.
Stryker, it isn't that Anselmi made a decision last week that is the reason we are losing.
These are 'ripple effect' type decisions. I can't possibly imagine Winter not wanting to buy out JDG, who would have said no?
That means we are short $450k of cap space. (I would personally rather get 2-3 good players with that money than a DP but that is another argument)
The way I see is this:
Anselmi brought in Winter but didn't give him all the tools he needed to win. Winter then tries to win with a half empty toolbox, which doesn't work.
Maybe Winter should go, maybe he shouldn't, I really don't know.
What I am pretty damn sure about is that Anselmi MUST go.
Three words:
Green Bay Packers
'nuff said.
Founded 1918, joined the NFL in '21. Soccer-wise, very few were created after 1900.
Again, there is no comparison between 1898-1920 and 2012.
Zero similarity.
So what will? 7 is a lucky number, maybe coach #7 will work.
Maybe we need a ritual sacrifice before every game.
Was BMO field built on a cursed Indian Burial Ground?
I would say AT LEAST 90% of people on here know more about soccer and TFC than I do. But I don't see anything else that is common in all this failure.
I would love to see Saputo come and buy up TFC and own two franchises, maybe Galon Weston Jr. is super into soccer and wants to buy TFC, who knows, there aren't really plenty of billionaires around who can cough up the $150m or so that TFC is likely worth ($100m for next franchise says MLS) so LIKELY MLSE will own them for the foreseeable future OR they start getting 5k fans out to each game, accrue a bunch of debt and get sold on the cheap to someone who cares.
I don't necessarily disagree with anyone who has disagreed with me in this thread. I would have bet with anyone who was willing that JDG would be gone in this offseason.
I think the one thing we can all agree upon is that whomever made the call that he NOT be bought out, be it Anselmi, Winter, Mariner or some boardroom bean counter... well they fucked up bigtime.
Last edited by Stryker; 04-23-2012 at 03:25 PM.
The only consistent thing between season 1 and today is Tom. The various comments that he has no impact with what happens on the field is nonsense. He controls the pruse strings so directly or indirectly he has control over the decisions that lead to the hiring, firing and releasing of players, coaches and backroom staff. He isn't picking the team on game day but his decisions are helping to pick the players.
I don't doubt his commitment to winning. He is a sports guy who would love nothing more than to see the teams he works for (and likely supports) win. I also don't doubt his commitment to his own best interest. He wants to be the President of 3 championship teams. Who in his place wouldn't want to? No doubt his salary is tied to overall revenue and profits so if the Raptors, TFC and the Leafs were to have long cup runs there would be increased revenue from food, ticket sales, jerseys... which would line his pocket.
My belief is that Tom and his head office team just don't know how to recognize managment talent. They have consistently hired coaches, managers and back room staff who can't seem to identify what they need to win on all their three professional teams. They have no long term vision.
At this point in the season if they have indeed given up why bother buying out his contract? If they do the message boards will erupt with people asking "Who do we sign now that we have 450K of cap space free". They will have to pay JDG and use the money 'saved' to buy other players. If they keep him they can pay us lipservice (free) about keeping one of Canada's top players and only pay his salary once.
If they do cut him lose or trade him and eat a large portion of his salary then TFC honestly thinks they can make the playoffs. If they keep him and he doesn't play more then you know that they are just treading water until next season and another o5 year plan.
"Football" decisions are not controlled by Tom, but indirectly the board of directors influence the process through use of budgetary expenditures and also through monitoring performance. These guys have been majorly negligent / asleep at the wheel. A smart organization could have figured out Mo needed to be fired after two years. An slow one could have figured that out after three. We blew through all those with reckless abandon despite the signs being incredibly clear along the way that he had no idea what he was doing. There is a lot of off the field stuff that Sr. executives / operational staff can control.
In a Leafs sense, let me give you an extreme example that I read somewhere (someone paste a source if they have it): Leafs scout finds a great prospect in Sweden, considered one of the best players not in the NHL, thinks he'd help the organization. Coach likes it, GM likes it, but they need $2M dollars to buy-out his contract from his existing club. They take it to the B.O.D. to approve and the response from one of the resident bean-counters is: "we're not paying $2M for some random asshole from Sweden". I can't remember who that player was in the end, but I'm pretty sure the story went that it was Henrik Zetterberg.
I'm not someone who said sell the team, but TFC is mere pocket change in the MLSE structure.
There could be lot's of buyers out there for this club, but I think MLSE would be real reluctant to sell not based on ticket prices, but the concessions and mechandise alone.
I personally would have no problem if they put it up for sale, it's been six years of corporate mis-management of our club.
Hell I would love to see them sell the Leafs too.
If Rogers and Bell hadn't bought MLSE I might agree with you that there are a couple of buyers out there for the team but now that they are (or will be) MLSE then there are few owners. Forbes has Toronto FC valued at 44 million and that is a lot of money for a team with angry fans and in a league where "few teams make money'. The owner needs to be rich enough to absorb some serious losses if the league starts to fail or attendance continues to fall.
The MLSE deal made sense for Bell and Rogers for 2 reasons. 1. The Leafs. 2. the fact that even if the Raptors and TFC have poor attendance they can still make money from advertizing on their TV chanels as they broadcast the games without having to pay for broadcast rights.
All this talk of ownership and senior management (and I'm guilty of it) is such long-term stuff and really, the long-term doesn't matter. The only thing we need to say is WIN NOW.
Sure, yeah, academy, system, next year, the future, blah, blah, blah. I grew up in Montreal an Expos fan and we were always about next year, we were always about being a good young team with a future and when that future finally came, when everything finally came together - there was a fucking work stoppage and the season was cancelled, no World Series. And then no future.
The long-term can take care of itself, we need to win now.
Nope. Teacher's Pension is selling their share in MLSE. MLSE live and breathes and continues to be the owner.
Nothing will change. Only corporate musical chairs.
i guess i just see things differently. if you think getting rid of somebody who seems to be more of a final stamp guy than the people making the descisions on the pitch, so be it. as far a i'm concerned, if you play a 3 man defense against speedy attackers who bypass the midfield for 3/4's of a match before really altering something, you aren't helping.
this team is not useless..its just being managed incorrectly. we need somebody who can get the best out of the squad instead of trying to hammer them into the wrongs shaped holes.
^ mentioned before, not either/or, BOTH Winter and Anselmi need to go.
Will anyone with experience help me make this tifo???
i vote for SELL THE TEAM!!!!!
its poll time!
shedding a tear....
Not sure a Tifo would change much but I understand the sentiment and wouldn't mind seeing it unfurled at BMO. A few simple chants would be cool too like everyone faces the MLSE box and chants "its all your fault, its all your fault...." or maybe "You can stick your friendly tickets, you can stick your friendly tickets, you can stick your friendly tickets up your ass"
Seattle season ticket holder fans got free tickets to games like Chelsea and refund for a blow out game, while we pay $115 and up just to see Real Madrid and ticket increases for 5 years of filled with many blowouts and continues awful performance. Wow something just seems wrong here!
^you forgot the free home opener you received in year 5as a sorry, we fucked up
This is my favourite. Anselmi is a corporate puppet. No sense going after him.
What about we make this a TIFO.
MLSE OWNERSHIP
Total Footbollocks. That's the one I'd like to see.
But saying something in English!!!
oh right that one. Was it MLS added an extra game to the season that year??but MLSE knew they couldn't increase tickets anymore after 5 years of shit performance, but they sure weren't going to decrease all ticket prices, so they just said it was a "free game". But cost no less then the season 4, which was an increase from season 3 and 2!^you forgot the free home opener you received in year 5
Last edited by james; 04-26-2012 at 10:16 AM.
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