Anselmi, Cope - seems to be all the same shit to me. Business guys with no business making soccer decisionsOriginally Posted by tfcleeds
Anselmi, Cope - seems to be all the same shit to me. Business guys with no business making soccer decisions
The new president GM position will solely be responsible for the soccer side of things. The TFC business opps is being merged into the overall MLSE structure. TFC has up until now had a complete separate front office and thus there was duplication to what MLSE was already doing running the Leafs and Raptors.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
Do you really think George Cope spends even a minute a day thinking about TFC. Even MLSE overall is a minimal part of Bells overall picture. This is a gentleman who total compensation last year was over $35,000,000 as CEO and Chairman of Bell.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
Cope is not a sports guy, but isn't pretending to be. Cope acted because he had a raging dumpster fire on his hands. He obviously didn't trust Anselmi, but TFC had to do something right away and he didn't know what to do without a CEO in place at MLSE. So he let the league figure it out.
Leiweke's move is something different entirely. This was a choice that was not imposed on him by circumstances - it was his choice, his timing.
I think my nickname for this guy is PT Six Guns (PT Barnum doesn't quite capture it).
He knows it all, has already made every decision. He will fire off on almost anything, just ask him.
But he is entering into public conversations about all the teams (ie today's discussion of DPs, or the statement that the Raps need to suck to be good) that are not the province of a CEO that is appropriately delegating.
Also, he is handcuffing his next GM by committing to Nelsen. Why is he doing that? It's the same mistake he made with Nonis, making a critical call before he needs to.
What a truly crappy 24 hours.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
Is Leiweke a sports guy? I was always under the impression he was a business guy. If he is not a sports guy, then why is he making decisions on player acquisitions (dps being the most important of the acquisitions) and coaching staff? Shouldn't that be the job of the new GM?
clear your PM jeremy!
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
big name soccer players like like celebrities. If you want them, you gotta butter them up like a celebrity. phone calls aren't going to cut it, and big wigs like Leiweke are the ones selling TFC to potential star DPs
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
So he's not a sports guy? Is this the person you want making key player acquisitions? Would players like Laba need convincing from someone like Leiweke?
Laba, no. Lampard, yes.
Ideally, the new GM and Nelsen identifies a target, and goes to TL and tells TL that they want this guy for these reasons and TL goes off to massage that guy's balls to get him to sign for TFC.
TL is a businessman first, but unlike Anselmi, he's shown he knows a lot more about sports and I think he has good understanding of people.
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
Personally I don't want to see 35 year old dps.
TL is looking for the next Robbie Keane, not Diego Forlan. though I'd imagine if Lamps wants to play in MLS, TL would give it a shot
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
As long as its not Pirlo. Great player....not going to be useful at 37.
Pirlo just turned 34. He is in great shape and unlike Nesta, whose pace and skills have declined recently, can, and will continue to play at the highest level for another 3 to 5 years.
TL will look to add a playwr who will instantly raise fan interest. In addition, he is likely under pressure from MLS to do what it takes to make TFC more interesting on the road. If you were a casual fan living in any of the MLS cities outside of Montreal and Vancouver, TFC is not a team you would pay money to watch.
by same argument, MLS FO should be pressuring every team except Seattle, LA, KC and NY to make their more team interesting.
frankly, I don't think Leiweke really gives a damn what MLS FO thinks
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
i agree, he probably doesnt care, but this league is governed with an iron thumb, he will do what he is told-TFC is a shit road draw and that loses money all around.
MLS has even bigger shitshow than TFC in Chivas USA and MLS FO has done ZILCH to solve that mess.
TFC isn't going to sign a DP just because MLS FO says so.
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
Correct me if I am wrong then; mls wouldnt permit mlse signing Dero as a dp. They influenced the direction the Dempsey signing would take, they manipulated the signing of Mcbride (was thatthe schmucks name?). I underand they have final say in all dp signings, so ya, He wont sign a dp just to please the mls fo, but he wont be allowed to sign another no name bum either.
All contracts go through MLS FO, not just DPs.
most of the DPs signed past 2 seasons are 'nobody' in terms of marketing, but MLS FO did not veto those. Laba is a 'nobody'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Designated_Player_Rule
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
My opinion...and I am one who thinks the Kelly article was insightful...is that TL made the decision because he finally reached the conclusion that his direction was not being implemented. It appears that there was some passive/aggressive behaviour from Payne who was saying the right things but his actions (ie on the Forlan deal and dismissing the Italian players) were entirely different. It sounds like Payne thought he could manage TL... because he thought he had more time to build up the team they way he wanted and pacify TL's need for big name DPs. Payne thought he knew better and that he had more time to fix this...and he did not.
Btw, I mentioned this in the "meeting thread" which seems to have disappeared, but I will say it again. A CEO of a private or public company, will not disclose any piece of information to a group without being 100% comfortable that the information is for public consumption. In the case of public companies, the consequences are severe, and in the case of private companies the implications are significant. So whatever he shared, he is ready to share, and the appropriate stakeholders within his company have been advised.
After listening to the press conference, I agree. I got that wrong.
well lets go gm shopping!
My read of the situation exactly, except we don't know who initiated the discussions first. Did Cope call up Garber and say "help!!!" or did Garber pick up the phone and say to Cope "I think we need to do something about this troubled franchise." Either way, they both knew something needed to be done, pronto.
Unlike the minions at the pension fund, I doubt Cope really wants to spend any time managing any of ML$E's sports properties, he's got more interesting things to do, however given Anselmi's inability to manage things, he stepped in.
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
MLS tweeted the headline "Tim Leiweke is after 'marquee DPs' to bring to Toronto FC" this morning.
That's where the "difference in direction" was. Tim wants the Beckhams, Payne wanted the Labas. The irony is, I bet Payne's visions is closer to most of ours at this point.
This is how I feel.
Bang on, and that's the most frustrating aspect of this most recent debacle.
I was more content and optimistic regarding the philosophical approach and overall direction of TFC prior to Leiweke's arrival.
Well we have the "Labas" now in Laba and Urruti. We need more. We need an offensive star (or two). And if you were content with Payne finding that star then I get it, but I think that he showed he couldn't.
We knew about Forlan and Moralez. One of which we were told was a done deal. Regardless of the reasons why they didn't happen, Payne had an influence. His work contributed to the fact that we didn't land either.....despite all the blustery talk surrounding them.
I'm ecstatic about the Laba acquisition. But this team needs much more. And diamonds in the rough are all well and good, but when we have a franchise that has the money and (more importantly) the guy who can make it happen, I think it's incumbent on them to pull the trigger on the RIGHT big name DP.
If done right it will make the team much better AND renew interest in the franchise. I don't think a Laba/Urruti type player does both things. And both things are equally important.
One of the things I questioned Leiweke about at that meeting was his obsession with "Marquee DP's"
I asked what the plan was - was it to parachute this huge name into a team and build around him or was it to build a team and then finish it off with a DP?
Obviously he said the latter stating that you always want to build a team in this manner. Nelsen jumped in and agreed with him adding that they have positions laid out where a DP would be used on this team and they have names attached to those positions.
I followed up by saying when Beckham was brought in, this wasn't the situation. They parachuted Beckham into a dysfunctional team and then tried to build around him.
Both Payne and Liewekie quickly said - when you have the opportunity to sign a guy of that calibre - you don't question what his role could be, you make it work.
That being said - I later questioned Nelsen on style of play - IMO his long winded answer to this question basically said there is no current style of play due to the players they have.
Take it for what it's worth - but IMO - this DP will dictate how this team will play from the first team - right down to the academy.
By who? It wasn't Payne that said it was a done deal.
That's one approach, yeah. And I can see the attraction of it. I personally would like to see more Labas and Urrutis (maybe on Urruti, who knows since we rarely see him play). I wish we would do a more quiet rebuild, kind of like what I see Norwich doing in the Premier League right now. I think the fascination with the flashy player in this city hasn't served us well to date. I could work, I agree, but will it?
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