Preki & Mo… How will they really get along??
I had the chance to listen to Preki speak on the Fan590 last night being interviewed by Nigel Reed and taking calls from fans (Listen to the interview here: FAN 590).
The interview got me thinking about the working relationship between Preki and Mo Johnston and how it will develop over the course of the season that is just about to get underway.
Preki and Mo have history. They played in KC and hoisted the MLS Cup together in 2000. By all accounts they are friends that go back to those playing days together. I am sure that this friendship was a factor in Preki getting hired.
Preki has put his stamp on the club quite authoritatively, especially in recent days. He decided that Marvell Wynne needed to leave and he has left. Remember Wynne was a “Mo Guy” from his Red Bull days when Mo drafted him. Mo traded for him early on in year 1 for TFC and has stuck with him up until yesterday. Preki wanted Ali Gerba gone and Ali is now sitting at home presumably calling his lawyer/agent and eating some pies. Remember Mo brought him in (on obscene money and with much fanfare) and with him being sent home by Preki, Mo has to answer for the signing and the contract. And he has to try and get something valuable in return (cap space, draft pick, warm body, etc.).
Bottom line… If you are not a Preki player you are gone. If you are a “Mo favourite” that is no protection from getting cut, released or traded out of town.
I can’t help feeling that no matter how strong the friendship is between these two men, as the season goes along there is going to be more and more friction between them. The more Preki places his stamp on TFC the more the previous moves made by Mo are going to be questioned and criticized.
Preki is also going to get pretty much a free ride this year. Rightly or wrongly he is going to be looked at as a guy who came in and tried to clean house and make sure that the right kind of player is wearing TFC strip. If we finish out of the playoffs again this season the blame is going to fall squarely on the shoulders of the Ginger Glaswegian.
If we make the playoffs and do well this season who knows what will happen in the board room. Whether having the “Director of Soccer” model of club management (especially if all the Director does is manage the salary cap) as a structure TFC wants to continue with is definitely going to be another matter for another blog post.
Tomorrow in Columbus
I would be happy with an ugly 1-0 loss tomorrow with a lot of hard work and some team defence for once on display. I would be over the moon with an ugly, scrappy, hard tackling nil nil draw.
It’s really a three-way relationship, though – Preki-Mo-MLSE. Chances are the company want to use the same style org chart for TFC that they do with their other teams. Hey, you never know, maybe someday they’ll have a GM triumvirate for TFC like they did with the Leafs.
But really what we’ve seen so far is more an NFL style coach-GM relationship with the coach calling all the player personel shots. It works well in that system and it could work well here.
Or, it could be a disaster 😉
a bush league club!!!
Win, lose, or draw today against Columbus, I’m far and away happier with a coach that’s willing to come in with confidence and a system in mind and clear out players that won’t fit in the long run than a guy who would let every decision be a “consensus decision” between the coach and the Director (unless that Director had an ironclad MLS record…)
And let’s be honest – for as much as this troubles the nerves going into the season after so much turmoil, I’d also much rather a coach who can come in and decide what he wants (and who he wants) in a couple of months than one who’s willing to “see how things go” with questionable players over the course of the season.