Be careful what you wish for

Bob Bradley is out at Toronto FC. Now what?

Photo by Sander Sammy on Unsplash

Sports is a results-based business. That’s the cold, hard truth. Everyone that works in it knows that and accepts it.

Players that don’t perform, get cut. Coaches that don’t win are fired. It’s black and white. The human element is rarely considered. As fans, even the most reasonable of us can be guilty of calling for people to lose their jobs. In what other scenario would that be considered normal behaviour?

Not many. Politics and sports, basically. And, in politics, you at least get a chance to plead your case before you are booted.

So, it is that context that we absorb the news that Bob Bradley has been fired by Toronto FC. There’s little point arguing about whether it was the right or wrong move — the results make that argument for you. What is worth examining is whether he had a chance to succeed, or if there is something else going on at the club that makes this an impossible job for anyone.

The move comes less than two seasons after he was brought in to bring the club back to the level it saw at the end of the last decade. At the time, it seemed like a no brainer — Bradley was a proven winner at the MLS level and the father of the club’s all-time appearance leader. In fact, they pretty much waited for him after Chris Armas was let go. They punted on a season to wait, you might even argue.

And they handed him the keys to the place — in an era where most clubs separate the day-to-day running of the team from the roster building, Bradley was responsible for both. Maybe. More on that in a minute.

So, to toss it all aside now is a significant choice and one that could potentially make things much worse before they get better. That’s because there is no direction now. The roster weaknesses remain the same, but anything that they had been working towards is out the window.

With all due respect to Terry Dunfield, he’s not going to be the long term solution here. He’s TFC’s version of Duncan Ferguson at Everton. Not sure where the CanPL’s Forest Green is (Guelph, maybe?), but he’s going to need a Rovers stage before he’s going to be a viable candidate for a top job.

He’s a likable guy that loves the club and will probably make the dressing room a little less toxic in the short term.

Very short term, hopefully, because they need to make the next move quickly. They need a direction and they need it before they add players in this window.

So, where do you go from here? Big question, that. Answering it, I think, starts by figuring out what Bill Manning’s role is exactly. Is he a typical president that is focused on business goals, or is he more of a GM involved in player deals.

It sure seems like his finger prints are all over the two biggest player deals that TFC has made this decade.

You see, Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi were not Bob Bradley moves. They were Bill Manning moves. Some might even argue that they were Marketing moves, but for now we will assume that Manning felt that the players would help TFC win.

They haven’t. And they are undoubtably what brought Bob Bradley down. There is no mystery here. The players were pretty open about how they felt about Bradley’s style. They weren’t fans. Vaping rules are an important factor here.

These are two incredibly talented players that are both underperforming and Manning has clearly sided with them in their dispute with Bradley. In fact, he has attached himself to them. So, when he is bringing in the next manager, he had better make sure that they are involved in the choice.

Call me old school here, but that seems like a bad idea. It also seems like what needs to happen. Had the club been willing to move on from either or both of the Italians then Bob Bradley would probably be still here. If you are hanging your hopes on them performing, then you need to make sure they are happy.

Vape away, Federico!

I suspect that MLSE will spend money on this hire too — it will probably be a European. Likely Italian. Name recognition is preferred.

Andrea Pirlo is available. It might already be too late for Pirlo in particular, but sometimes the obvious target is the actual target.

Is that, or similar, the right choice?

I doubt it, but they aren’t going to hire Bobby Smyrniotis and lean into the kids, now are they? It’s TFC. They will go big.

They always do.

And, if it doesn’t work out, I suspect they will be looking for a new President next winter.

The club announced that Jason Hernandez would be the next GM after this was written. It doesn’t change the theam of the post though.

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