Advertisement

News

David Miller breaks up with TFC

Toronto sports teams are synonymous with losing, but our professional (and we use the term loosely) soccer team is currently doing its best to cement a special place in the annals of futility.

Toronto FC is dismal, and has been pretty much since the Major League Soccer franchise launched in 2006. The club has failed to reach the playoffs in every season of its existence and this year has managed to win a feeble four of its 27 matches.

One thing TFC has so far enjoyed is rabid fan support, however. But you can only love a loser for so long, and today former mayor and honourary Red Patch Boys chieftain David Miller announced that he has just about had enough.

Miller sent a scathing open letter to team owners the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Group, apparently mailing with it his remaining season tickets, which he is returning in protest. The letter slams not only the team’s horrible record, but also its revolving-door management style, which has gone through a small legion of coaches, managers, and supposedly marquee players in its short history.

The letter appears to have been triggered by last week’s firing of TFC manager Kevin Payne, as well as MLSE president Tim Leiweke’s public musings about replacing BMO Field’s grass with ghastly artificial turf in order to accommodate a CFL football team.

Dear Sirs:

TFC Management Changes

I am writing because I believe that the recent management changes at TFC, and your president’s comments on football/artificial turf, have seriously jeopardized the future of this club. From the moment Coach Cummins was allowed to leave, the team has jumped each year from one playing vision to its opposite, thereby preventing on field progress. At the same time, the experience of the supporters has declined – together with their passion.

This is amply demonstrated by the fact that it is now necessary to have someone sing the national anthem, when previously supporters sang O Canada themselves, unaided.

Since the failed hiring of Preki as its coach, the club has desperately needed stability. Hiring an experienced and high level President/GM, only to fire him a few months later, is exactly the opposite of what is needed. It was either wrong to hire Mr. Payne, to fire him, or both.

Similarly, either pursuing a skilled young player like Urruti for two years was wrong, trading him three weeks after acquisition was wrong – or both.

Here is my advice:

– Stabilize the management. Change simply has to stop – this is the last chance to get it right.

– Stabilize the team. Today, there are at least signs of passion and hard work on the pitch. Build on that with selective change. Don’t start over.

– Stabilize the experience. End the speculation about the Argonauts CFL team coming to BMO.

Mr. Leiweke’s suggestion that they might, and the necessary implication that they would play on artificial turf, was the wrong thing to say, at this time in particular. You risk losing the most committed supporters of TFC if the venue is changed to accommodate Canadian football, particularly if turf returns.

As you know, I have been an ardent supporter of TFC since you and MLSE first had the vision to bring Major League Soccer to Toronto. I have supported the team through thick and thin, defended management, was one of the first season ticket holders, and, in my former capacity, was instrumental in building the stadium and supporting its conversion to grass.

I am so frustrated with the latest management missteps that I am returning the remainder of my season tickets to you: it is the only way I can emphasize how serious the situation is for those of us who support TFC. Please donate them to an appropriate cause.

There once was magic at BMO Field. The latest reshuffle has made the possibility of that magic returning almost certainly disappear.

David Miller

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted