Damn It’s Cold in T.O. via Twitter

So says Toronto FC captain Dwayne De Rosario on  a very cold Monday in Toronto. Dwayne is now back home at the behest of his employers who last week brought his sojourn at Celtic to an end. On Friday past Aron Winter notified DeRo and the media that there would be no loan deal for him in Glasgow and that as an integral part of the team’s plans going forward he was needed back home.

And home he came.

So the question that many TFC fans must be thinking about today is where do Dwayne and the club go from here? And how, if possible, can the recent “unpleasantness” be put behind them? And it clearly is in the interest of both the player and the club that this get dealt with sooner rather than later.

The list of options open to club and player are today somewhat clearer now that there is no likelihood of Dwayne playing overseas. They essentially are that he is traded to another club elsewhere in MLS, he is forced by the club to play out his contract as is, or a raise is negotiated that gives him the dollars he feels he is worthy of (either a DP deal or some creative use of allocation dollars that gives him additional money without a DP contract).

Dwayne’s angst over his contract is by now well known.  So are some of the details about his journey to Scotland. Without knowing all the details of the apparent miscommunication over the circumstances of his Glasgow trip on the outside looking in there appears to be plenty of blame to share. Dwayne and his camp obviously started his trial with Celtic without obtaining the proper permission from TFC to do so or letting the club know exactly what he was planning to do and when he was planning to do it.  TFC obviously let the lines of communication with their star player deteriorate to such a point that they had no idea that a loan/trial/tryout was definitely going to take place when it did, leading the club to embarrass itself by having to do an about face about Dwayne’s status in 24 hours after seeing DeRo in Celtic strip splashed across the pages of a Scottish newspaper and website.

The blogger in me would love to know all the details of what went down and where it all went wrong. The TFC fan in me at this point does not care much anymore. I just want this all put to rest and be dealt with as soon as possible.

Since Dwayne left for Scotland the Reds finally managed to get their new Front Office and coaching staff into place for the upcoming season. The SuperDraft is over. Two veterans have been traded. And the MLS transfer window is now open. In the next few days we might start seeing new players being signed and introduced as training camp starts in nine days.

If this DeRo saga is not addressed soon and once and for all put to bed there are almost too many negative consequences to contemplate.

Dwayne’s relationship with the fans may become irreparably damaged. Many supporters are clamoring for him to be stripped of his captaincy. Others are blaming him fully for the Glasgow mess. Others are asking if the soap opera this has become is even worth it anymore. Without a doubt if Dwayne De Rosario wishes to remain with Toronto FC and if he wishes to either get traded or wishes to get the money he feels is is worthy of he needs this issue to be put to bed as quickly as possible. Letting this drag out does him no good.

Aron Winter has now started the process of putting his mark on TFC as well. Players have been drafted and others have been traded. The transfer window is open and newcomers are soon going to be arriving. The process of building the club for the upcoming season is going to be definitely hampered the longer this situation goes on. Some players might balk at signing here if the uncertainty continues. Other clubs might balk at dealing for De Rosario (if this is the course of action they decide to take) if there is not some sort of public rapprochement putting the issues to bed, at least publicly.

And with a tight salary cap to work under, and having to account for every precious penny in cap pace that is desperately needed to fill anywhere from 10-13 spots the scale of the rebuild becomes obvious. My very rough calculations tell me that there is roughly $1.4-1.6 million in space available to acquire new players and to re-sign other important players worthy of raises (Cann and Attakora, Maicon Santos and Gargan definitely come to mind). How much more of this relatively small amount goes to DeRo of course will have a knock on effect for the other acquisitions/signings the team will be making. The longer this issue is out there the harder it becomes for Winter to do his job.

Both club and player have a lot of tough questions to answer. And at some point those questions are going to be publicly presented to them. And if both player and club do not address these questions TOGETHER there is the possibility of things becoming even worse then they have been. I would like to see nothing more than Anselmi, Winter and DeRo appear together in front of the local media and answer the questions we all have. I don’t even care at this point that we get all the answers many of us feel we deserve. What I want to see, for the good of the player, the club and the fans is a public display that shows everyone that things are moving ahead.

Uncertainty is the great enemy here for all concerned. And the longer the silence continues the worse this all becomes. DeRo is back in town. Winter and his new staff have settled in. Now is the time for them to publicly clear the air and get on with their very difficult jobs.

What do you think? Your comments are of course always welcomed and appreciated.