Allgemeines Forum » e rather than its trademark high energy.

Until you truly get over the past you will never be truly able to move on. With snow on the ground and Major League Soccer at the start of its offseason, a media gathering at Toronto FC in the past has meant the beginning of a new direction. This time, though, there was no new head coach, no new general manager...not even a new president. Tim Bezbatchenko and Greg Vanney, amongst others, addressed a media gathering of over dozen people on Thursday morning and, for as long as it takes for a football match to play out, the four-man team talked us through a PowerPoint presentation focusing on the identity of the club from the bottom up. The decision to talk the media through what they have done to their bosses was an interesting one. A lot of the topics they addressed were admirable and they are a group of people that seem likeable - a group you want to root for - yet there was an element of the entire process that felt like a married couple going to get counseling from someone who had just got divorced. When you hold a vision meeting with a commitment to excellence after continuing to never find excellence on the field, it isn’t easy to take them seriously. In house, it is clear that such a vision is a way for Vanney and Bezbatchenko to show their bosses that they are the right men to lead this team going forward. Publicly, however, they know the sport is a results-based business and how Toronto FC perform during next season will dictate whether fans want them to stay. Many of the media members in the audience on Thursday have covered the team from the start. They have sat through much of the club’s hires who have talked and talked and talked again about how they were going to achieve success. Once the games started, they failed on the field. Time and time again. On a screen, this one looked different and, with success in the future, it warrants more attention, but football matches are not won in a boardroom and this a team that just needs to win. The media sat patiently throughout the 90 minutes, but the moment the meeting went into added time, it was opened to questions and the only topic anyone wanted to talk about was Jermain Defoe. The stance remained the same. “If someone comes in and there is an offer then we will consider it,” said the general manager in almost the exact same spot as he had said the same thing during the press conference announcing Vanney on August 31. Bezbatchenko continued: “Then you ask yourself, Are you prepared to move on without that player at that time? and I think right now we are in a position to answer that.” The American ducked and dived the questions about the English striker and it is clear that must not have been easy. After all, we must remember that no matter what Defoe wants, it is within the club’s best interests to keep that private. Bezbatchenko said right now they are planning on having him on the team, but that’s not surprising considering that the player is currently under contract for a club that is looking ahead to 2015. Deep down, privately, only a few people will know what the intentions of Bezbatchenko truly are, but it is likely that the club have completed a full 180 in terms of their thinking about Defoe. In December 2013, a bloody big deal was put in the works, but by December 2014, the bloody big deal for the club would be to remove a player being paid a fortune off their hands as soon as possible. That has to be the top priority at any kind of vision meeting they organize. Defoe, if happy, would be great for this team, but he is no longer the guy who took the bait when wooed last winter. A year on, he has seen MLS, shown he couldn’t play with Gilberto, suffered injuries and no longer has a World Cup place to fight for. Now, he is simply an asset that, once removed, gives the team the flexibility it needs to offer a playmaker, not a striker, a massive amount of money to help create goal-scoring opportunities, something they massively needed more of last season. Some members of the media wanted to know why Defoe hasn’t publicly stated his wishes. Toronto FC should be thankful he hasn’t. “The player has never indicated that he doesn’t want to be here, confirmed Bezbatchenko. There is a community around him that has indicated in various ways that they can be here or elsewhere, but, from him, no.” As long as that stays the same, the club has a chance to protect its own interests and a significant asset. This saga has, of course, been drawn out by the transfer window, which has prevented this from already reaching a climax. It has also helped protect the club and the player from a public affair, but that time is running out and already newspapers are full of transfer stories even before the month begins. Reports in England this week said that QPR manager Harry Redknapp had travelled to Malaysia to convince club owner Tony Fernandes to give him the funds necessary to get Defoe and a reunion with his former boss at Tottenham and Portsmouth looks like the odds-on favourite. Few other options exist. Defoe is on a massive wage that very few teams in England will come close to matching at this time of his career. January will be a pivotal month. Only once this soap opera ends can any kind of vision for success in 2015 be taken seriously. Nike Air Max Ale . -- Kurt Buschs Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, in some ways, was like his career wrapped into one afternoon. Nike Air Max Myydään . 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