Toronto will certainly protect their stars but who won't be protected? (Getty Images)

The 15h and final club in our expansion draft speculation lists is Toronto FC. Yesterday they announced Preki as their new head coach and his first big task will be helping General Manager Mo Johnston with figuring out who to protect and who to leave exposed in the expansion draft.

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To paraphrase Preki during his first TFC press conference - "he didn't blow smoke up anyone's... butt". Forgive Toronto supporters for smiling at that idea as we've been having our butts smoke blown (oh grow up) for three years plus. Most of that smoke has been blown by the other man at the press conference table today but in one of his main off-season duties, Mo Johnston succeeded. Click to continue reading...

After parting ways with Chivas USA, Preki is now the coach of Toronto FC. "We are very excited to make this announcement today," director of soccer Mo Johnston said. "Preki has everything we were looking for, and we feel he will be a perfect fit with our club. His resume with Chivas is impressive – having made it to the playoffs in every season he was there. Click to continue reading...

The media reports are heating up that Mo Johnston, fresh of his Scottish Football Hall of Fame induction (insert joke here), will announce the signing of Preki (scientific name: Predrag Radosavljevic) as TFC's new manager. Sources are saying that negotiations are well under way and that an official announcement could come as early as Thursday. Click to continue reading...

A surprising bit of rumour is making the rounds in the Sunday morning papers that could possibly have some legs. Reports are linking the recently departed Chivas USA manager Preki to the vacancy on the Toronto FC bench.
The merit that this rumour has is that Preki, or Predrag Radosavljevic for our Serbian readers, was a long time teammate of Mo Johnston's at KC Wizards. Click to continue reading...

Make no mistake - Mo Johnston needs to make more than a few good player acquisitions this winter in order to improve TFC. However, the decision that will have the deepest impact on The Reds will be who Johnston hires to manage the team. There are high expectations from the supporters but betting on a big name may not be smart. Click to continue reading...

Richie Williams

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Let's talk about some no-brainers in life.

Tired-ass, overly sauced Chinese food vs. Thai food. High-five the Thai, every time.

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It seemed astonishing when Mo Johnston recently claimed to be shocked by the level of criticism that he was receiving after TFC's recent failure. Was the wily Glaswegian watching the same team the supporters were? Why the shock on Mo's part?
It should be no surprise however when you look at the acceptance of mediocrity that comes from places higher in the organization. Click to continue reading...

Big Story
The dramatic failure of Toronto FC this year, after a struggling season was concluded as the club blew its chance of making the playoffs by getting torn apart 5-0 by Red Bull New York, has thrown the entire direction of the team up for debate as well as the future of general manager Mo Johnston.

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Tom Anselmi defended his decision to extend Mo Johnston's contract by saying, and I quote: "Our expectation was to not make the playoffs the first three years. We didn't think we would."
Bra. Vo.
Not expecting Toronto FC to qualify for the playoffs? In a league where half the teams move on to the post season? Click to continue reading...

More than a week has passed since the end of the Toronto FC season and it honestly still hurts. It is heart wrenching to have hope and faith in your team so deeply shaken. To go into a game hoping for the best and to have the all time worst handed to them, I am still recovering from the shock. Click to continue reading...

Moving as I do mostly through non-footballing circles, I've been asked, "hey, what's the deal with Toronto FC? Did they make the playoffs? I heard they lost something like 10 nothing to some nobody team in the states."
These post-mortems can get boring, so let me just throw down my two-cents on this club as I see it so we can all move on. Click to continue reading...

---- -----------------"Can I get back to you in five years?"
One thing has become crystal clear over the last few days of post-season naval gazing at BMO Field. It doesn't matter, who the head coach is, it doesn't matter how the star player feels, it doesn't matter what the supporters want - Mo Johnston (Yes, the Scottish Hall of Famer! Click to continue reading...

Keep telling yourself that:

"When you look at other coaching candidates, they'll jump at the chance to come to Toronto knowing we're a big organization, knowing we've got great fans," [Toronto FC GM Mo] Johnston said. "We've got the grass, we've got a designated player [Julian de Guzman] in, we're looking to strengthen the team and move on.

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BMO Field finally turned into a fortress in 2009. (Getty Images)

2009 was expected to the be year that Toronto FC turned the corner and really made a splash in Major League Soccer. The moves were made to get local star Dwayne De Rosario at the start of the season and things looked promising early on but midway through the first full month of action manager John Carver stepped down and if you ask me the club never really rebounded from that change.

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I'm not a smart man. I mean, for years and years, I thought all those VCRs were supposed to blink "12:00." Who knew?

So maybe this is hardly a surprise, but I just don't get it when it comes to Toronto FC. My little brain just can't get around how matters are being managed at a club with such amazing potential.

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--------------------That is some quality toad. Nice hole too.

Well, that's it then. 2009 is done and dusted with Toronto FC having nothing but a big wad of mediocrity to show for it. But have no fear brave TFC supporters - Mo Johnston is working feverishly to make everything better!

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Ever since Toronto FC debuted back in April 2007, its supporters have been referred to by local media as a "sophisticated soccer base." It's patronizing that adult MLS fans with a committed stake in the outcome of matches and a working knowledge of the league table are suddenly pipe-carrying, elbow patched Lobanovskyi's ready with our doctoral theses on the coming of 4-6-0. Click to continue reading...

So Mo Johnston's big state of the no-union address was to remove the "interim" tag from head coach Chris Cummins title. He also removed the word "head" and "coach" from the affable Englishman's job description as well.
Yes, the ever-humble Johnston dispatched yet another manager from the TFC bench with Cummins being the convenient excuse for the mediocrity which Mo has taken nearly four years to build. Click to continue reading...

Today, in a total non-surprise, Chris Cummins departed Toronto FC as head coach. Mo Johnston declared that the next head coach will have MLS experience, but the head coach search must wait until after the MLS Cup game.
Mo also confirmed that he signed a 2.

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So Toronto FC fired their interim manager Chris Cummins today, on the heels of a 5-0 meltdown in a must-win match against woeful New York. That's a reasonable move, and one that I suspect most TFC fans welcome. But whichever English or Scottish league washout that Mo recruits (and you can bet your bottom dollar that it'll be a Brit), will face the same problem that Cummins and his predecessor John Carver faced. Click to continue reading...

Former Toronto FC coach, Chris Cummins

With the not too surprising news this morning that Chris Cummins is out as coach of Toronto FC, let's look at the rest of the coaching candidates for dismissal in MLS. Starting from the team with the worst record in the league, the New York Red Bulls, and working our way up the table, these men should be feeling the pressure from team owners for failing to qualify for the postseason.

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Toronto FC did not renew interim head coach Chris Cummins's contract on Tuesday, announcing they will begin a search for a new head coach. Cummins replaced John Carver, who resigned on April 25th. "We have decided to move forward without Chris for next season," said manager, director of soccer Mo Johnston. Click to continue reading...

So, there, Cummins is gone. Duane Rollins thinks his leaving won't account for much, following his convincing argument the other day for Trader Mo's dismissal as sporting director.
Fine Cummins out, so can we stop the ex-lower level Luton/Newcastle parade now? These are the last of clubs in a long line of Graham Taylor-Watford-Wimbledon eighties style Charles Reep football, and follows a "we need this part to fit in this cog" line of thinking to work properly—you have to have two centerbacks and they both have to be big, you need a poacher near goal with a runner in behind him, and you need a classic lined up midfield to grease that 4-4-2. Click to continue reading...

Not a real shocker here since Toronto FC got spanked on the final day of the season when they needed a win to reach the post season. Toronto FC announced today that interim head coach Chris Cummins will not be returning for the upcoming 2010 MLS season. Effective immediately, the search begins for a new head coach.

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Has there ever been a final weekend of league games in the history of the universe where every single match actually meant something?
I bet Don Garber lit himself a big old Red Auerbach style victory cigar last night. All the other commissioners over at the Commissioner's Club are getting set to throw him a roast. Click to continue reading...

------------------ "Sing when you're winning" - RSL = 40pts
After having to swallow a 5-0 debacle in New York, one thing was clear - any team other than Toronto FC had to make the playoffs tonight. There was that brief moment where it was still possible that the Reds, that unbalanced, built-on-the cheap by Mo Johnston squad could still make the playoffs despite the club's horrifying display and completely mediocre season. Click to continue reading...

Before tonight, our worst loss in league play came in our ever second match at New England Revolution. We lost 4-0 that night, and at the time, we were easily the worst team in MLS. Tonight, in the most important regular season game we've ever played in, we lost 5-0, to the current worst team in MLS. Click to continue reading...

Just because you can do something, doesn't necessarily make it the best option. As Toronto FC head into their last gasp attempt at making this year's playoffs, that conundrum does indeed rise. The enigma that is this season's Reds are quite frankly lucky to even have the chance to qualify for the post-season but that is the reality of MLS parity. Click to continue reading...

Lots of stuff for Wolff again this week, who is having a career year in terms of goals and minutes played.
Josh Wolff's goal was his 11th of the season, a career high in MLS play for Wolff.
Wolff's goal was his 73rd in MLS play in his career, tying him with Edson Buddle for 13th all time. Click to continue reading...

The Awesome 3 on Jeff Cunningham and the Dallas debate. They also touch on the playoff chase in Toronto; of course hindsight is 20/20 but do you think Mo Johnston wishes he would have hung on to Cunningham and Casey now that they are leading the league in goals? I've heard of "buyers remorse" but does "traders remorse" exist? Click to continue reading...

After the all too predictable failure of Toronto FC on Saturday afternoon, the supporter's, and media's, axe was immediately and forcefully swung at interim manager Chris Cummins' head. It is hard to argue that anger, what with the technical shortcomings of TFC in the San Jose match and in many previous matches this season, but how much of the blame can lay solely at Cummins' feet? Click to continue reading...

In Mo Johnston and Toronto FC's quest to build the cheapest team in the world, they invited three unknown youngsters on trial from the African nation of Ivory Coast - or Cote D'Ivoir to its friends. Ivory Coast is a football rich nation which can boast the superstars Didier Drogba, Emmanuel Eboue and Didier Zokora amongst its talented "Les Elephants" national team. Click to continue reading...

Colin Smith's (author of keepie-uppie.blogspot.com) email about the opportunity Toronto FC gave him as an aspiring sports journalist speaks mostly for itself, so I've included it in full below. I would only add that, while I'm proud of what I've done here on AMSL, I was struck reading Mark Bowden's piece in the most recent Atlantic in which he describes newspaper columnists who sit at their desk writing columns about whatever news lands on it instead of going out and finding the story, "thumbsuckers. Click to continue reading...

The City of Toronto are all high on grass after approving MLSE's proposal to install a new natural grass turf for BMO field. This is great news for Toronto FC fans who have been enduring a brutal turf war for the past 3 seasons since TFC joined the MLS.

The last time BMO field boasted a shiny grass field was when Real Madrid came to town to thoroughly trounce TFC.

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