Sports: Toronto FC: Soccer fans in an uproar, coach is 'issed off

Toronto the Good's continent-level professional soccer team, Toronto Football Club (TFC, but that's not some new brand of Fried Chicken), is having its troubles again this year. James Christie, "Toronto FC responds to angry fans" (Oct22,2k10). Daniel Girard, "TFC moves to quell supporters' revolt" (Oct13,2l10)

TFC is a grand idea, but fan support for a still-new franchise requires some victorious season's to grow and maintain interest, draw in new fans, etc.

...[T]he chief operating officer of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment is “pissed off” about the poor performance of Toronto FC this season, which will see the team miss the playoffs for the fourth straight year. He also admits the club “screwed up royally” with its season-ticket renewals.

And he vows to “get this fixed real quick” by re-jigging season ticket packages and hiring the right general manager to improve on-field results.

“We don’t feel good about the fact that we are where we are because the objective this year was the playoffs and we missed it,” Anselmi said in an interview Tuesday. “It’s bothering me.

“I feel a personal obligation to our fans to deliver and so far we haven’t.”

TFC, which has been a box-office sensation since it joined Major League Soccer as an expansion team in 2007, was officially eliminated from the playoff race last Saturday just prior to a 3-0 loss to Chivas USA.

With two games to go, the Reds (8-13-7) sit in 11th place among 16 teams.

The owners of TFC are Maple Leaf Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the chief executive officer of which is Tom Anselmi. He now wants to "reach out to fans with town hall-style meetings and scale back season ticket packages." The head coach and his top echelon colleagues have been dismissed.

-- Sportikos