Timing was right for TFC coaching change: Anselmi By Aman Dhanoa Posted on June 7, 2012 1 0 912 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Aron Winter PHOTO: PAUL GIAMOU/CANADA SOCCER As Toronto FC players came onto the pitch Thursday morning for training, they knew something was afoot. Coach Aron Winter was nowhere to be seen. The players soon found out the news that Winter had stepped down and that the team’s Director of Player Development, Paul Mariner, would take over as the new Head Coach and Director of Soccer Operations. But is that what really happened? It became clear that the move was basically a firing in disguise. Winter and Tom Anselmi, the executive vice-president and chief operating officer for MLSE, had regular discussions about the direction of the club and a couple of days ago and it became clear to management that a change was needed. When informed of the news, the Dutch coach was offered a technical role with the team and the opportunity to continue his work building the Academy but, not surprisingly, he declined. So reading between the lines, essentially in a polite way, an ultimatum was given. But when Anselmi was asked, he wouldn’t bite. “The conversation about maybe it’s time to make a change and his deciding to step down was really the last couple of days and it was as simple as that,” said Anselmi. “But Aron stepped down, that’s formally how it happened but it was the result of a discussion of what was going on with the team – wasn’t working so therefore a change needed to be made.” Considering the fact that the team was back on the upswing after clinching the Canadian Championship and picking up its first win of the year before the MLS break, the move comes as somewhat of a surprise. It would have made more sense to make the move when the club had started the year with an MLS record nine straight losses but, for Anselmi, he felt now was the perfect time. “The timing was fortuitous given the players were on a break and just coming back. Paul has an opportunity to work with them for a week so that’s how it all came together.” Mariner who has extensive experience in the MLS with the New England Revolution, will have a much simpler approach to managing the team — he’s not worried about playing a particular system. In fact he is sick of talking about systems — he’s going to use whatever works and expect his team to show their efforts on the pitch. He also feels that his current roster is good enough to have success right away. “All it is, minor adjustments, that’s all it really is. It’s not a massive overhaul,” said Mariner. “I’m a pretty straightforward guy — what you see is what you get. The one thing that I think should be a given is that the players are running, working and trying. “Every coach has his own philosophy so it’s not really for me to agree or disagree – there’s many, many ways to skin a cat. At this present moment we just got to change things a little bit. There’s only some minor adjustments that need to be made in my viewpoint.”
