Remember that the old board was a pension fund only interested in the bottom line.
TFC's new board are media owners, who have given the teams a new mandate to win.
Winning makes for full stands, more content dates, and better TV, and the ML$E deal was all about media.
Financial analysts can have the wool pulled over their eyes as long as the numbers are good. The new board knows better.
Of course, the numbers can't be that good, either.
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
Personally I may have spent more time watching GOT this year (or at least was more entertained by it) than TFC. So perhaps this is their new marketing strategyOriginally Posted by Phil
TBH though, I worry about how Payne will handle being in a position where he's all alone (in power, but alone). He talked a lot about the importance of having everyone on the same page acting for the good of the team. That will be hard to do from the beginning when two of his major officers (Mariner and Cochrane) resent him and have completely different visions than him. He'd be better off surrounding himself with good people (and who are good human beings) who he can trust and will do what's best for the club. Cochrane and Mariner definitely do not have what's best for the club at heart. I know that he has the power to fire them and hire good people, but what worries me is that he has no advisers who he can discuss things with. Going off the personal opinion of one person is never a good thing, no matter how good their intentions are. He needs people who he can bounce ideas off of, and who can provide him with ideas (without being super offended if he doesn't go with them a la Mariner and his "scouting" reports). Currently it's just him and Rongen on the same page. Maybe de Klerk if he's given a role by Payne.
For me to be stupid happy, I'd need to see some people leave, and maybe for us to go back into the expansion draft.
But I get what you are saying!
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
This is what happened, imho. We all saw the stands last year. We all know that renewals took a big further hit even with the price drop. TFC revenues have to be down more than 50% in two years (probably more). With the third highest payroll in the league. There's no jawboning around that.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
I'll agree with that . . . .
I believe Mariner will be on a short leash. Payne will be a real PAIN for Paul if the season doesn't start well!
I don't worry about Payne. Remember, he built a franchise from scratch and has contacts throughout the league. If he needs advice, he can bring in the people to get it. Besides, his man Rongen is already there. If it has been up to me, Rongen would be head coach, the guy in Bermuda shorts would have been axed with Winter, and we would be feeling much more positive about 2013.
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
almost whole DC FO just got canned so I'm sure he can bring people if he needs lol
Wow, that's really bad news for you, even if the new owner is finally getting you a soccer-specific stadium, or so it seems.
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
Owners taking an opportunity to install their own people? I wonder if Payne saw the writing on the wall and left. Or maybe he was given the opportunity to leave w/o getting fired.
Payne was having his role diminished. He wasn't going to be fired, but the new owners wanted a different stamp on the team. A "type A" person like Payne would never accept that, so he left.
*********************************************
Just in!
Ben Rycroft posts an article showing how Mariner had no clue that he was going to get a new boss. No wonder he looked so shocked and unhappy at the news conference:
http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/co...e-Payne-hiring
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
Interesting. It really didn't appear he expected it. I'm not a fan of Mariner obviously, but the hiring process seems to be yet another demonstration of the ineptitude of this organization. Hopefully Payne does the job, but there's a lot we need to be vigilant about as fans. This front office really needs to be held to account.
Knowing how DC was run, I think you'll find a totally different mindset from the FO going on. It will be a massive paradigm shift for us after so many years of disfunction. DC supporters talked about a lot of things (especially a new stadium), but they never had to talk about holding the FO to account. Payne was "one of them," and really made the club accountable to the supporters as part of his philosophy. You especially saw that when he fought to allow supporters to control their own section in DC.
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
That's what makes me so supportive if this move. We finally have a President that puts fans and especially supporters first. The more you make the fans and supporters happy the better the product becomes. Plus he seems like a no BS type that will hold people accountable for there actions no matter what his relationship is with them. A big difference then what we have had in the past.
It won't be easy for him to change that culture though, and it'll take time. I can't wait for the day that I feel confident that our team does things above-board and with integrity. It's far from that now.
I don't think it takes as long as you think. This is a sports team, very different then a traditional corporate setting, something MLSE doesn't seem to realize most of the time. Setting a guy in place like Payne at the top of a sport organization you can quickly change the culture.
Prolly not, DU were never as dependent on FO as other DC groups.... we weren't treated same for it to be the case lol
So for us it might get easier (equality would be a good start), but then again with this being MLS I'm expecting Evan Dabby type to head FO at which point I might finally snap haha.
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