By Ben Knight

 

No one person, and no one factor, did in Toronto FC’s 2009 MLS campaign. 

The team was wildly inconsistent, and crashed out of the playoff hunt with a astonishingly awful 5-0 loss to New York Energy Drink, by far the gummiest pack of predators in the whole zoo.

For the past two days, I’ve been digging up stats and writing about Danny Dichio.  In no way am I claiming that a broken down striker who bagged just 3 goals and 2 assists was TFC’s most valuable player or best way forward.

But I did show that TFC scored almost twice as often in games Dichio started.  Something about the guy focused the Reds, and unhinged opposing defences.  No one else in the Toronto strike force showed the same ability.

So, if Dichio was forced into retirement by a rising clubhouse divide, what can be learned from this – and how can a recurrence be prevented?

Let’s start by backing away from the “bad apple” search.  Departing interim coach Chris Cummins coined the phrase, but didn’t elaborate.  Everyone wants to know “who?” but it’s situational.  A divide will have at least two sides, and one faction’s bad apple is the other’s shining-right-solid-citizen guy.

I’ve talked to many, many people about this, and everyone’s got a different theory and version of who helped and who hurt.  So I’m not in a position to name names.

But I will run out a few things I know, in hopes it helps to move us all along. 

- TFC striker Chad Barrett, signed to a four-year deal by GM Mo Johnston, struggled all season.  After coach John Carver resigned/quit/was fired/walked out, it became clear that Barrett was going to play, and Dichio wasn’t.

- We were told Dichio was injured, but he didn’t play like he was.  We were told he couldn’t go 90 minutes anymore, but in fact he went the distance five different times.

- Eventually, absurdly, Cummins told the media Dichio was so hurt and old and done he couldn’t even ride airplanes to the west coast anymore.  This was absurdly wrong, and I do not believe that story originated with Cummins.

- Dichio and his agent met up with Mo in Denver, and hammered out a deal that let Dichio move sideways into a TFC coaching position.  Dichio “retired,” just two days before Canada top man Julian DeGuzman signed on.

- Mo later said he did not need Dichio off the books to sign DeGuzman.  He may have felt he had to say that.

- TFC strikers scored just two goals the remainder of the season.  Defender Nana Attakora equalled them – over the same stretch of games – all by his lonesome.

Many things combined here.  Dichio and Barrett both wanted to play, and Cummins didn’t (or couldn’t) accommodate them both.  As it began to boil up in the boot room, Cummins did not have the experience and/or authority to unify the squad.  Neither could Toronto captain Jim Brennan. 

We were left with a fairly toxic workplace.  In situations like that, “All For One” can easily degrade into every man for himself.  There was far more wrong in New York than a misconstructed roster and the naïve tactics of an overmatched coach. 

Not enough players cared.  It was win-and-you’re-in, and they parked and posed for the worst loss in franchise history.  Too many soloists.  Too much apathy. 

No Danny Dichio.

Jeff Cunningham – Golden Boot winner with FC Dallas after getting run out of Toronto a year ago – said something important on “It’s Called Football” yesterday.  He noted that being a striker is all about confidence, and when that gets taken away, it makes things very difficult.

Toxic workplaces kill confidence.

I have one more stat for you.  The three strikers who were drummed off the roster in 2008 – Cunningham, Carlos Ruiz and Collin Samuel – have combined to score 45 goals since they were released.  Toronto FC, in MLS ’09, scored 37.

Remember that, the next time you hear Johnston say he’s looking to sign a 20-goal striker.  There weren’t any of those guys in the league this year.  The guy who came closest – Cunningham, with 17 – has already had BMO Field security tell him to clear out his desk.

Mo’s not innocent in this, but he has a new, extended contract, and the backing of his bosses at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.  He certainly gets full credit for the DeGuzman and DeRosario signings, as well as some fine accumulation of young talent and paying for grass at BMO Field with last year’s sale of Maurice Edu to Glasgow Rangers.  But it must also be remembered that Chad Barrett is his boy.

Toronto FC urgently needs a new coach with real experience – and deep personal strength.  Show me a guy with a decent track record, who can tell Mo to take a pill and still have a job on Monday, and that’s your man.

We need a new captain, too.  Too much infighting has been allowed to fester on Jim Brennan’s watch.

You can fill your glass half-full, and say the Reds missed out by only one win, and having DeGuzman for a full season ought to take care of that just fine, thanks.

You can drink your glass half-empty, and say any team that gets flushed 5-0 in the Jersey swamps has absolutely no chance of winning, even if it backs into the playoffs despite whatever awful pile of dysfunction and denial it’s been hauling like a trailer-load of ‘possum plop since almost the beginning.

Your glass; your choice.

I hope these three days of digging will help clarify things a bit.  Never easy, when the pond is this polluted.

Onward!