An Open Letter to Mo Johnston

[bgnewf]

Monday August 11th.

96 hours to go Mo. 96 hours for you to engineer some sort of player swaps or signings before the transfer window closes for the rest of the season.
Don't let your win on Saturday go to your head Mo. We were playing one of the worst teams in the league who have been having the same scoring troubles that we have. Our roster is still very thin and you are sitting on allocation dollars, a DP slot, a ton of draft picks, cap room and open roster slots. I am sick of the excuses like "...we are close..." or "...we are working on something...". I am sick of hearing that Canada is a problem. I am sick of hearing that the turf is a problem. I am sick of hearing that the MLS salary cap is a problem Mo! Every team in MLS has some or all of these issues to deal with ( the only exception of course - being a Canadian team).

All I want from you is to get off your duff and get this team and your loyal fans some assistance as we try and make a run to the playoffs. You know talent and you know what this club needs. I will not presume to offer suggestions to someone who knows far more than I ever will about what it takes to be a professional footballer. You clearly know what we need. Now all you need to is to go and get at least some of it! We have 12 games to go in this season and only 5 of them are at home so a lot of tough games are on the way. We can be sure of picking up knocks and maybe more suspensions before the season ends so getting more depth is beyond critical.

I know this is only season two of our franchise and maybe some fans are expecting too much. But this is a league of parity and the playofffs are not out of the realm of possibility. We started this season successfully and you have upgraded the club in many areas. But it all seems to be slipping away since July (Saturday's great result notwithstanding). Your job as I see it is to do everything in your power to make sure that we get there. I honestly cannot tell if that is the case...I can't tell if you have or have not done all you can. All we as fans can look at are the results.

Prove me and the doubters wrong Mo. Prove us wrong by making sure that you get some reinforcements for our boys by the end of the week. They deserve it and so do we.

[Roogsy]

I don't want to fall into the panic that I felt before the season started...but I am getting a little worried.

[Shaughno]

Hear hear...

ps. fuck Usector.

[MG42]

nice letter...if we don't get anyone, you can guarantee that there won't be anyone for the start of next season either...year 1 dichio came in late, year 2 robert and Guevara came in late...I would love to see a full starting team start the pre-season together

[kelzag]

fyi ~ transfer window between MLS teams extends until September.

Still time for DeRo

[trane]

I am not that desperate this time around. I will judge him by the final results. Then if we have not improved his leadership needs to be reviewed.

[Damien]

Can we still trade within the MLS after the deadline?

[kelzag]

Can trade within the MLS until September 15th. Had that confirmed last week.

[yellowfellow]

nice letter...if we don't get anyone, you can guarantee that there won't be anyone for the start of next season either...year 1 dichio came in late, year 2 robert and Guevara came in late...I would love to see a full starting team start the pre-season together

How can you forget about Ricketts?

[Red CB Toronto]

The reason you can trade within the MLS outside of the transfer window is that the league is considered to be one entity because the league holds the contracts.

[MG42]

How can you forget about Ricketts?

lol sorry, I left the most importanat piece out! lol, my bad

[TOBOR !]

Hey, he got rid of Cunningham - addition by subtraction.

[Troll]

Here's my open letter.


Dear Mo,

Our team sucks, and it's mostly your fault. Go fuck yourself.

Sincerely,

Troll

[jloome]

Going for the productive bridge-building approach I see, Troll

It's hard to know where the fans stand anymore, given that there doesn't seem to a lot of respect for their support inherent in the lack of action to resolve the striker problem. Sure, there may be a ton going on behind the scenes that we don't really know about, but there are ways to convey to your fans that that is the case without tipping your hand as to whom you're talking with.

All we keep hearing is "any day now..." and it's getting frustrating. Poor communications strategy, becuase even if we get someone big, it'll be a long time before some fans shed the perception that Mo just isn't a very good GM.

I don't think it's fair on the whole, because so many important other steps have been taken, such as setting up the youth system, bringing in a coaching and fitness staff, etc. But this one particularl issue -- getting a strong finisher in, a real goal poacher -- seems to be handcuffing the wee Scot. And, as I've said before, there are lot of options worth trying out there, given that we don't have much to lose.

[TFC USA]

Dear Mo, I am a Nigerian general with $5000000000 to put in your bank account if you would sign a player outside of an old, washed out man from the Championship in England. Signed, Nigerian General

[Super]

Thing is, we don't know what sort of stuff have been going on behind the curtain. For all we know he's been in talks with 100 players and they have all turned us down for one reason or another. Heck, Ali Gerba just signed with the Milton Keynes Dons. They just got promoted from League two. Players, it would seem, would rather play low-league European football than come to North America. And let's be honest, who can blame them? We're less of a draw than the Norwegian second division.

The timing has to be perfect for us to get new players. I'm sure most of the time we're just plain old turned down.

[Oblio2]

I don't see the point of this.
Do you think Mo will read this and say "You know what, he has a point....I should really try harder"
It's like screaming at a player "Score!!!"
Do you think they say "Ok" and do it?

Mo knows what needs to be done.....

[boban]

I don't see the point of this.
Do you think Mo will read this and say "You know what, he has a point....I should really try harder"
It's like screaming at a player "Score!!!"
Do you think they say "Ok" and do it?

Mo knows what needs to be done.....

Let's close all threads and attend to other things in life and not converse on this board at all then.

[Beach_Red]

And, as I've said before, there are lot of options worth trying out there, given that we don't have much to lose.

Signing the wrong player could possibly lose us a lot. The money, of course, the roster spot, the DP slot if that's what he takes up - maybe for two years of that's the length of the contract he insists on, and so on.

Right now we're a little desperate so every agent in the world is on the phone with a GREAT DEAL for TFC - it's probably not a good idea to look even more desperate - tough to negotiate like that.

[Marco2K]

Lets just hope he has something up his sleeve. If not he is stealing money!!

[jloome]

Signing the wrong player could possibly lose us a lot. The money, of course, the roster spot, the DP slot if that's what he takes up - maybe for two years of that's the length of the contract he insists on, and so on.

Right now we're a little desperate so every agent in the world is on the phone with a GREAT DEAL for TFC - it's probably not a good idea to look even more desperate - tough to negotiate like that.

Given that most MLS contracts aren't guaranteed, it costs us nothing. The roster spot is moot after sept. 15, because at that point you can 't even have an inter-league trade. The DP slot is pro-ratable, as it was with Denilson at Dallas, and getting rid of him wasn't a problem.

So I don't really see where you've presented anything to counter the argument other than to say "if we handle it badly it could cost us a lot." Yeah, and if you jump in a river, you get wet. But if you're smart, you swim, you don't walk (in other words, the concerns you're raising are only a problem if Mo is a total idiot.)

And I think you misunderstand what I'm saying; when I say LOTS of players out there, I mean literally dozens who would fit the bill (cheap, eager to play here, talented, not a total wash with immigration and naturalization). Just check around some of the leagues on the same level as MLS, go over the rosters, see who is and isn't playing and who has routinely produced goals in the past.

The last time I did this, in the beginning of the year, the list included Carlos Costly, who the team later tried to sign -- albeit too late, because his team came up with a last minute contract extension. So it's not rocket science or a procedure you can only leave to long-time scouts.

[Beach_Red]

Given that most MLS contracts aren't guaranteed, it costs us nothing. The roster spot is moot after sept. 15, because at that point you can 't even have an inter-league trade. The DP slot is pro-ratable, as it was with Denilson at Dallas, and getting rid of him wasn't a problem.

You're right.

Still, I can't imagine many agents wanting their clients to be off the market hiding in North America on a non-guaranteed contract. Are non-guaranteed contracts common in soccer?

Still, I'm sure you're right there are lots of players in the world worth taking a chance on.

[jloome]

Maybe it's just that Mo doesn't want to take that approach; he may have a very rigid development plan in place that matches his five-year approach, and stop-gap players aren't part of it.

I don't know. I find it truly puzzling, though.

[Beach_Red]

I don't know if it applies to soccer or the MLS, but I've followed a lot of expansion teams in hockey and I have to say, the ones who stuck to their plan of developing a team, instead of running around grabbing every free agent they could or trading draft spots for veterans, usually did much better over a four or five year period, at least.

At least Mo's been involved with MLS for quite a while and he seems to have a real handle on all their weird roster rules.

[Roogsy]

Dear Mo, I am a Nigerian general with $5000000000 to put in your bank account if you would sign a player outside of an old, washed out man from the Championship in England. Signed, Nigerian General

LMAO!

[trane]

Dear Nigerian General,

As you are certaily a powerfull and influential man, can you just send us a top rated Nigerian Striker. Any of the following will do ; Kanu, Yakubu, Obinna and Anichebe. If you have some money you can send us a CB (Yobo) and a Mid (Mikel).

[mclaren]

honestly, does anyone truly believe that Mo has a real five year plan in place? if so, I'll have some of what you're drinking.

[bhoybobby]

Does anyone think the fucker can read?

[RPB_Brantford_08]

honestly, does anyone truly believe that Mo has a real five year plan in place? if so, I'll have some of what you're drinking.

yes he does have a five year plan in place, the reality is we will have to wait to year 5 to judge if its a success or not, and so far in year 2 it has been, we have one more win now they all last year, we are competing
for a playoff spot...so we are on the way.

[Chubbs E]

We are a second year team and expectations should be in line with that fact. A bit of slack is due right?

The Devil's Advocate