News: New Coach!! Ryan Nelsen

It's easy to paint this move - i.e. signing a coach who isn't yet available - as typical, same-old MLSE, but I'm actually starting to think it's the opposite. Personally, I'd rather see them get the guy that they want rather than settle for somebody who is available right away.

The old TFC would have listened too much to fan pressure that they need to have a new coach right away and gone out and got somebody who was available right now. What it looks like Payne is doing (or at least what I HOPE he's doing) is what a number of us have been saying for some time - come up with a vision for the team and then find the right staff who can work to that vision. So, I suspect that that is what is happening here and that Nelsen is the guy who fits the vision he has for the team and it just happens that he's not available right away. It also looks like he's thinking about a coach for the long-term, not just someone to get them to make a push for the playoffs in 2013.

Yes, it would be ideal to have the new coach available for the draft, pre-season and so on. But at this point we don't know what the situation is going to be - perhaps they can negotiate a release from QPR; or perhaps they have something else planned for the interim. But I'm willing to give Payne the benefit of the doubt. For now at least.

 

One thing that I 100% agree on is that this is not the old way at all. It is clear that those supporters who have been diligently calling for a head guy with 100% control of the team ops without Tom Anselmi or the board "meddling" have gotten exactly that.

I suspect the only influence "fan reaction" had in this announcement was making sure the timing of it was after the season ticket renewal season was done. The last "philosophy" we were told before the ST went on sale was that Mariner and Cochrane were on a tight "playoffs or else" mantra for 2013....how many season ticket holders took that serious and how many of those would not have renewed if they knew that this was really a "tear down, start over with an inexperienced 1/2-coach" year?

That is, however, in the past and the question now becomes is having that 1 guy in complete control gonna work (it has not for the club's sister teams in Basketball and Hockey). As for waiting for the new coach.....I think this is a very high risk move.....we are waiting until (potentially) July for a guy with zero coaching experience. Nelsen's contract with QPR ends June 30 (although he is likely to be available sooner)....by that date last year TFC had played 15 league matches (2W-10L-3D) and were all but eliminated from the playoffs.


EDIT....I would also suggest if these moves are being made with a 5 year view of things (as the optimists are suggesting) and that the next 5 months without the skipper at the helm are a small short term price to pay for that 5 year vision....one has to wonder why we are going into the season with DPs like we are....two of which are aged men coming off serious injury and the other is just an aged man. If we are building a 5 year model club/franchise, we need to look at the whole thing.

 

Well, part of the reason is that the decision to keep the DPs for next season were made in the Mariner/Cochrane/make-the-playoffs-or-you're-out era.

The other part is that you still need to have veterans on your team. You need to have the leadership that veterans bring in combination with young players. Koevermans and Frings may not be with the team five years from now, but they are part of the process of getting you to where you need to be.

 

In a season that seems less about playoffs than building a foundation for future long term/cosistant success (which is ok) I would suggest that the biggest contribution these 3 make in 2013 is limiting the capacity to bring in players because of their (+/-) $1 million cap hit. This is over 1/3 of the total available and am not sure a building team needs/can have that much consumed by 3 players who will not be part of the mid/long term future.

 

I'm not suggesting that they need to tank this season and/or completely start over from scratch. I'm also not saying that playoffs for 2013 are out of the question.

This isn't a completely binary situation whether either you aim to be competitive now or you aim to be competitive 5 years from now with no other option in between.

 

Now with a new direction in place for TFC..the team now has to decide the fate of its DP's i would let them all go and release the much needed cap room and try and find quality players in the position were in bad need of defence..and a striker. If Frings and Koevermans could be convinced to take a smaller pay packet ( not likely) they could still play a part in the rebuilding of this team.

 

I think it's important because one of the knocks on Winter was that his prior coaching experience came from coaching kids. Nelsen has even less experience than that. While you can point to Kreis' or Olsen's success, it's still a risky move. Usually, risky moves don't work out for TFC.

He waited until 9 days before the draft to fire Mariner. In the time that he took over and now, a list of candidates could've been assembled. If he was hiring someone like Jose Mourinho, than yeah, there's no need to consider others, but he's not. He's hiring a guy someone that no one saw coming as opposed to a Jesse Marsch who most of us would probably find easier to accept.

Payne did say that he thinks Nelsen would be here for the next five years. In that case, why fire Mariner in Novemeber/Decemeber and do a search to make sure you've got the right guy. That way, they can spin it as "we did our due dilligence and Ryan was clearly the best."
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On the topic of getting him from QPR, I'm not sure what the fee would be but the good thing is that it won't count against the cap.

 

Payne will be doing the drafting at the superdraft so when Mariner was fired and Nelsen was hired plays little into it..Jesse Marsch although fired is still under contract to the Impact thus they would want no doubt a pick/player and TFC should never deal with Montreal EVER..Mariner should have been sacked at seasons end..but since the team was paying him still use him for PR if nothing else until Payne was brought in

 

To have any impact on cap space....they would have to take a pay packet less than $400k per year.

 

which is still good money for players late in their careers..like i said i doubt it would happen..

 

I have no doubt it would not happen. They both have contracts that pay them substantially more than that...why would they ever, in likely their last contract, just agree to pay cuts at all (nevermind pay cuts in the $1 million + range?)

 

I just don't think we are the club (at this stage of our existance and with our history) that should be taking this chance.

Some great players that are identified as great leaders and "gonna be a manager someday" types work out fine.....some don't, however. Very few people that I read/listened to ever doubted (to site one example) that Roy Keene would be a great manager....I don't think he became a great manager...did he?

Some work, some don't......I am not comfortable with us trying to find out if Nelsen is one of the ones that work.

 

This a joke. For a while I was second guessing myself about not renewing my seats. Not now. This a ridiculous way to run a professional organization.

 

That is the irony....he could be 9-0-0 and still be replaced

 

Jesus, you guys cry when they don't do anything and cry just as much when they do. It isn't like they fired Sir Alex to hire Mo for god sake. Mariner was an idiot... lets be pessimistic and say they win 5 games again - probably 2 more than Mariners' hoof and chase tactics, poor player selection and childish sideline antics would have yielded. I'm of the mindset that regardless how poor Nelson's coaching is, it isn't any worse that what Mariner brought to the table. "Hoof the ball up the field and run after it" - how many years of coaching experience do you need to have in order to out duel that?? Worst case scenario we swapped one $hit coach for another. The bright side being that perhaps Payne knows what he's doing and Nelson will take us to where we need to go. We all whine that we want an MLS guy with a good soccer mind making decisions around BMO. Well, by all accounts we now have that in Payne. Do you really think that this guy, who I would say is held in high regard throughout the league, just came here to screw us?? Just signed with TFC so he could fire our brilliant soccer mind Paul Mariner and secure our future with a 7th losing season? Ridiculous. We all thought the hiring of Payne was a step in the right direction at TFC. Give the guy the benefit of the doubt, let him get rid of all the people he perceives as being part of the problem and let him replace them with people he feels can work towards the providing the solution. That is why he is here, isn't it? This is what we've been asking for for 7 seasons. If you want to support a team that keeps the status quo every year and has the results to show for it, then good news, the Leafs will be back on the ice real soon. I for one am glad to see the changes being made and hope there are many more cause this mess needs to be cleaned up fully, once and for all.

 

point to one person on this thread who said anything in defense of Mariner and then we can debate the rest of the points you raise.

 

I like this move. QPR will most likely be mathematically eliminated well before the end of the season and so would not have as great a reason to hold onto Ryan. They might also start shed salary if it looks like relegation is a reality, depending upon of course what their current pay / versus future estimated revenue structure looks like. If relegation is a reality and since they know they will lose Ryan at seasons end they might also want to give another member of their team a chance to play in order to better prepare that person, someone who might not be ready for the current league but who could play with comptency one level down. I think given his rep our players will be respectful of him and he strikes me as a fair but no nonsense type of guy. He is young, will most likely participate in some of the training with the team, and will drive our guys as hard as he is noted for driving himself. The thing is that he will be doing all of this at the same time so slackers beware. All this being said we still have the millstone of three less than stellar DP's on the rooster and I wonder if Payne will be in any rush to replace any should circumstance make this an option. I suspect he is looking to field in 2013 a young but hopefully energectic and inspiring team who will at least keep us on edge, but most likely will not be ready to compete for anything higher than 8th place. That being said there is little room for error so I suspect I will not have to budget at 80% or more certainty for play off tickets. Thats okay, I am sort of young and would hope in 30 years to still be attending games. I have to believe that sometime in those 30 years we will make the play-offs and perhaps win the whole thing. Still though cannot wait for the start of the seasons and if lucky to get to get to spring training.