Wow! Perhaps the Bez saw Nelsen's post match comments as being akin to a lower level employee jumping on the boss's desk and pissing on his head. Nelsen gone: who's going to take over? (Bradley the Edler going to bought out from Stabaeck?)
He's not the only one who's gone. Neil Davidson is reporting that the entire coaching staff is out and Defoe could be next. We're still not allowed to have nice things in Toronto. #torontofc fires Ryan Nelsen and entire coaching staff. Jermain Defoe could be next to go -- to QPR -- in fallout of Leiweke departure.— Neil Davidson (@NeilMDavidson) August 31, 2014
You know what would make Toronto FC better regardless of who's coaching? Pick 11 guys and start them a few games consecutively and go three months without making a trade. The only thing more ridiculous than the revolving door in the manager's spot is the revolving door on the player's bench. Yes, there have been injuries and the World Cup but there have also been stupid trades (Issey for example) and completely baffling experiments like playing Jackson on the back line. This team was playing pretty well at the start of the season. To me, Nelson and Bez both share the blame because both are guilty of completely unnecessary tinkering. Keep the same starting eleven from March and replace only injuries and that team would have gelled nicely and we'd be up there with Kansas City and DC United. Why are teams that were below us like New England now looking completely organized and getting results? They've been playing together all season. Why is the concept of letting players get familiar with each other so baffling to TFC?
I'm wondering if the players' lacksure play the past few games was a result of them wanting Nelsen gone. What exactly did Nelsen say about Bez?
Another short sighted crock from a piss poor front office. What is going to be accomplished by letting Nelson go at his point? And replacing him with Vanney? Really. I feel bad for you guys. Especially in a season where you could make the playoffs.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...er-struggle-defoe-on-way-out/article20290806/ FWIW. TBH though it seems like this info probably came straight from the TFC damage control committee The highlights: That Nelsen and TFC general manager Tim Bezbatchenko didn’t see eye to eye is no secret. When Bezbatchenko was hired almost a year ago, it was laid out in no uncertain terms that this was Nelsen’s project, and he was hired to manage the salary cap and utilize his extensive MLS head office contacts and experience to put TFC in the best position for success. All four trades that TFC has made so far – the acquisitions of Collen Warner, Luke Moore, Dominic Oduro and Warren Creavalle – were Nelsen moves, moves that Bezbatchenko opposed on each occasion. Nelsen had zero head-coaching experience when he arrived in Toronto, a fact that was exacerbated when eschewed the opportunity to hire strong assistants with long coaching resumes, instead choosing to hire some close confidantes and allies. That decision didn’t always go over well with his players, and both Defoe and Michael Bradley have expressed dissatisfaction with how training sessions are run in comparison with leagues such as the English Premier League and Serie A. Bradley and Nelsen have had a rocky relationship at times, and after starting his TFC career with some sterling performances earlier this year, Bradley’s patience with Nelsen’s tactical acumen and methods began to run thin, with the pair having had to have private meetings to clear the air.
The way I see it is this: Nelsen's job this year was to get this team into the playoffs. If he didn't succeed, he was going to be gone anyways. With the form this team has been in since the WC ended, they weren't going to make the playoffs. This was supposed to be the point in the season where the team has finally gelled and is firing on all cylinders. They shouldn't be falling apart and looking short on ideas. So this move is to try to turn the team's form around before they drop out of the playoffs. Bez could have easily waited for them to not make the playoffs to fire Nelsen if that was his goal, but it seems he would rather do something now avoid missing the playoffs. We'll see if it pays off. And TBH, if Vanney can come through with what he says the team needs to do, then I like his gameplan a lot more than Nelsen's.
That's the feeling I get about this article, as well. It sounds like someone close to Bez is feeding the lines here, but whatever.
There have been a lot of moves that TFC have made that I didn't agree with, but I agree with this one. In addition to the 13 out of a possible 39 points stat, their goals conceded per game has nearly doubled since the break. In the last 13 games, they've given up 2 a game versus 1.09 before the break. The use of Jackson at RB has been most baffling of all. He may as well have planted a white flag at that position than playing Jackson.
This is why I think the info is from someone in TFC's damage control department (PR), but not necessarily someone close to Bez. It's written to make Nelsen's firing look like something that had to be done, but it doesn't exactly put Bez in a good light either.
If anything, what this G&M article shows is that Tim Leiweke has most definitely become a lame duck president of MLSE.......if we are to believe that Nelsen is "his guy" and that the project was his and that Bez was, reluctantly, simply a capologist, that all changed very quickly in the two weeks since TL announced he is leaving and Bez somehow now is empowered to fire Nelsen without so much as a peep from TL. It also (IMO) exposes a pretty cynical side to Bez' personality, with TL a lame duck and with a power vacuum above him until TL is replaced.....Bez does something that seems to have been forbidden until two weeks earlier....he fired Nelsen.
The more I think of this it has all the indications that the coaching side of things were probably also looking to fill the power vacuum that TL's leaving created.....were planning some sort of move to get Tim Bez ousted.......Jason Bent took the information to to Bez....everyone is fired except Bent. 6 people were fired yesterday....1 was re-assigned and 1 guy is hired to replace them? This really has all the earmarks of an internal power struggle....and Bez probably had a limited amount of time/scope to make sure the press conference yesterday was not announcing his departure from the organization.
I'm beginning to think that our only hope is for TFC support to plummet to the point of folding and a new ownership group starting a new MLS club in Toronto. It's obvious that MLSE is broken to the point where nobody can repair it.
It is always the same thing, new GM fires old coach, GM puts his coach in than GM gets fired and new GM has a coach that wasn't his pick, rinse and repeat. I am with Polygong on this MLSE simply doesn't know how to run this club and only way to fix it is someone else buys it
Other possibility is that Lieweke agreed to fire Nelsen, but doesn't want his face associated with that move. Sure, Nelsen was 'his' guy, and had his support, but I would say that Bez is even more-so 'his' guy. Nelsen was originally Payne's guy, and was kept on by Lieweke because they shared the same vision. But it was also clear from the beginning that the goal was the playoffs. Now that the team is off playoff pace, it's possible that Bez was able to convince Lieweke that Nelsen wasn't going to turn it around. Or maybe even Lieweke himself was displeased with the team's performance. It is interesting though that this is maybe the first big TFC announcement that Lieweke didn't put his face on by making it himself
Things would be much simpler if people had clearly defined roles... I think by now we should know that this concept of: "everyone is working together for the benefit of the team" doesn't work
They are not "off playoff pace" they sit 4th on goal difference and have the 3rd highest points per game rate in the East. Lieweke, for the most part, has sat silently watching this because he too is leaving and is the very definition of a lame duck.