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Toronto FC fires president/GM Kevin Payne in yet another shakeup

Andrew Bucholtz

Tim Leiweke's time as president of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment has been nothing if not eventful, and he continued that trend Wednesday with the firing of Toronto FC president and general manager Kevin Payne. Payne was a highly-touted hire late last year thanks to his experience with DC United, but he spent just nine months on the job in Toronto before getting axed. It's yet another change of direction for TFC, which has failed to make the MLS playoffs since its 2007 debut. Cathal Kelly of The Toronto Star broke the news of the move, and he writes that it's largely thanks to Payne's failure to bring in big-name players:

Payne promised a renaissance. Instead, he delivered more of the same.

One of the key issues was his fixation on two prospective designated players - Uruguayan Diego Forlan and Argentine Maxi Moralez. ...

While few new players arrived, promising existing talent like attacking midfielder Luis Silva was shipped out.

By the end, Payne lost the confidence of his bosses, most importantly new MLSE CEO Tim Leiweke. The two worked together at Leiweke's former employer, AEG. That friendship was not enough to salvage the situation.

"I was a little bit surprised, but I understand that Tim wants to move - not in a dramatically different - but in a somewhat different direction," Payne said.

We'll see just what that direction is, but according to Kelly, it will include Ryan Nelsen, the coach Payne brought in in curious fashion at the start of this season. Nelsen was still playing in England's Premier League when Payne brought him in as a coach, and he had next to no experience in that role. So far, the results haven't been great, and TFC is on course to miss the playoffs yet again. Nelsen must have convinced Leiweke that was on the players he was supplied with, though. We'll see if he proves to be right or not.

Perhaps most importantly, though, we'll see if Leiweke can find a way to give TFC some stability. Many of the club's problems have arisen thanks to lurching from coach to coach and GM to GM, something that's led to endless purges of the roster to remake it according to the new team's wishes. When that happens, you don't often get great value for talent, and that's why while many former TFC players have gone on to success elsewhere, the club hasn't received much for them.

Payne looked like a source of potential stability at the top, but axing him after nine months shows Leiweke didn't share that view. We'll see who gets his job and if there will be further changes coming, but TFC can't afford to keep making these changes forever. Leiweke now has the chance to put his own guy in charge, and we'll see how he does with that decision. TFC fans will certainly be hoping he picks the right one, one who can stick around for more than a year. Otherwise, this team's directionless futility may yet continue.