TFC III on the way
Tim Bezbatchenko’s job depends on first-team results.
But Toronto FC’s general manager also sets his own, less-talked about benchmarks.
“I believe by 2022 we will be capable of fielding a Canadian team, minus Designated Players, where we can win the Canadian Championship,” Bezbatchenko boldly told the Toronto Sun last week.
“That’s my challenge. It’s not just good enough for us to have TFC Academy players who can play. They have to have first-team minutes and be able to win. They have to show they’re competitive.”
The Reds introduced TFC II — which competes in the USL — last year to help stem the gap between college and the pros. The minor-league affiliate is mostly composed of professionals in their early 20s.
Next season, Toronto FC has plans to unveil TFC III — rebranded from Senior TFC Academy — which is expected to participate in League One Ontario, a semi-professional league within the province.
Beyond that, the Reds are reaching out to clubs within Ontario who would be interested in sending their top players and pro prospects to Toronto FC’s academy setup, which could soon house a residency.
“We need to make sure the top clubs around Ontario know we’re a friend,” Bezbatchenko added. “If they have a mission, they have to have a professional end game. We only work with clubs that have a player-first mentality.”
The Reds currently have six Homegrown Players on their senior roster, including Ashtone Morgan, Jay Chapman, Chris Mannella, Quillan Roberts, Jordan Hamilton and Mo Babouli.
Head coach Greg Vanney started three Canadians in the club’s final Canadian Cup match in Vancouver earlier this year.
Kurt Larson, Postmedia Network
TORONTO — What better place to transform a soccer franchise than at the base of York St., inside a restaurant named e11even.
It was a job interview of the highest degree.
Ex-MLSE CEO Tim Leiweke met with Tim Bezbatchenko weeks before he was officially unveiled as Toronto FC GM.
The first question was a doozy.
Leiweke, the ultimate entertainer, asked the wide-eyed, 32-year-old Bezbatchenko who he’d sign as his first Designated Player.
Money was no object. There was no time for a patient rebuild amid TFC’s dismal first seven seasons.
Bezbatchenko wanted Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Leiweke told him to “try again.”
Suffice it to say Leiweke was convinced and offered Bezbatchenko the role soon after.
Thus began a process that eventually culminated in TFC collecting its first-ever playoff win on Wednesday night against Philadelphia.
Looking back, though, the club’s rebirth began as little more than a dream, given the Reds were fresh off a 2013 campaign that saw them claim just six wins through 34 games, scoring just 30 goals.
Heck, Bezbatchenko recalled feeling “like Toronto FC was worse off than an expansion team.”
At least expansion teams, he added, received $1 million in allocation money.
The Reds were a complete disaster, with overpaid players and worthless DPs and a disgruntled fan base.
But Leiweke knew what would put Toronto FC back on the map in this city — big-time players, first and foremost, followed by a complete overhaul of one of the worst rosters in league history.
“We do the DPs together,” Bezbatchenko recalled Leiweke’s instructions. “Then you’ll work with the league and you’ll fight with the league to get the best players you can.”
This was no patient rebuild.
Leiweke’s immediate demands included big-time DPs and for Bezbatchenko to trade, draft and develop better than any GM in TFC history.
Keeping embattled coach Ryan Nelsen was a stipulation of assuming the position, one Bezbatchenko supported, but wasn’t certain about.
Regardless, TFC’s top brass embarked on bringing in a pair of DP strikers to solve TFC’s goal-scoring woes, supplementing those major signings by immediately trading for Justin Morrow and Dominic Oduro — deals Bezbatchenko called his first important acquisitions that immediately made TFC better.
Then came Gilberto before Christmas, followed by Jermain (The Bloody Big Deal) Defoe and Michael Bradley.
One of the biggest off-season spending sprees in MLS history compelled the Toronto Sun to dub the aforementioned trio TFC’s “$100 Million Men.”
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“Signing Michael was a key moment because the expectations were high,” Bezbatchenko added. “When we signed him we became a big club.”
Of course, sometimes big clubs fail.
And things eventually came to a troubling end midway through the 2014 season.
Bezbatchenko fired Nelsen amid a poor run made worse by a stunning about-face from Defoe.
Interim coach Greg Vanney oversaw the rest of another season gone awry and was in limbo.
Then there was a reset, of sorts, though the accumulation of assets — Morrow, Bradley, draft pick Nick Hagglund and stalwart Steven Caldwell — meant TFC was marginally better than a year earlier.
Yet, there was a decision to be made about the coach.
Bezbatchenko even “had contact” with multiple managers “currently winning in MLS.”
Ultimately, though, the Reds re-upped Vanney and embarked on another off-season that saw MLSE double down on its promise to invest in major players.
“Failing is the biggest lesson you can learn,” Bezbatchenko said. “To be a great leader, you have to fail. Defoe was the biggest and most important failure of my young career.”
The Reds filed league discovery claims on Sebastian Giovinco and Nicolas Lodeiro — now dominating with the Seattle Sounders — heading into 2015.
Without the Bloody Big Mess, Bezbatchenko claims, he wouldn’t have known how to sign the Atomic Ant, the eventual league MVP, to one of the most expensive DP deals in league history.
“I told Seba this was less of an adventure and more a crusade,” Bezbatchenko recalled. “I told him he needed to be coming not for fun, but to carry the torch.”
The Reds also were busy processing a swap deal that saw Defoe off-loaded to Sunderland for Jozy Altidore — a move many questioned until the American striker’s recent run of form.
“I felt more comfortable with those DP signings,” Bezbatchenko added. “There was more certainty with these signings — the profile, the style of play, the execution.”
Still, there was a need to improve the roster around the club’s big players heading into 2015.
Marky Delgado and Eriq Zavaleta, two relative unknowns, were acquired along with Robbie Findley, Benoit Cheyrou and Damien Perquis.
“Our defence was good from 2014,” Bezbatchenko explained. “So we corrected the offence (with Giovinco and Altidore). We felt like we corrected our defensive issues with Perquis.”
Only they didn’t — especially after Caldwell went down early in the 2015 season with a calf injury.
Oft-injured Perquis eventually became a liability.
At fullback, TFC’s top brass expected to get more from Jackson, who didn’t pan out during a season that saw the Reds concede an astounding 58 goals en route to backing into the post-season.
“That was a massive hit,” Bezbatchenko said of Caldwell. “You only have limited room to improve salary cap-wise.
“And Jackson was one of the 10 best fullbacks in MLS when locked in. Unfortunately, he wasn’t always locked in.”
The club’s mid-season solution, Ahmed Kantari, was something of a Hail Mary — one that came crashing back to earth when the Reds were eventually one-and-done in the playoffs.
“I learned about the athleticism of our league,” Bezbatchenko said of Kantari. “From a speed and agility standpoint, Ahmed couldn’t compete in our league.”
Again, pressure escalated heading into this season.
Statistically, the Reds boasted one of the top offences in the league, scoring 58 times in 2015. But the defence was simply putrid.
Caldwell had previously called it quits, while Kantari wasn’t invited back for 2016.
Inevitably, Perquis was sent packing at the first opportunity.
With president Bill Manning applying pressure to vastly improve the club’s embattled back line, Bezbatchenko assessed his roster following two years of immense turnover.
He’d stockpiled defensive depth in Morrow, Zavaleta, Hagglund, Mark Bloom and Josh Williams — guys with significant MLS experience who could help win games.
He’d also accumulated midfield depth in Delgado and Cheyrou, along with young local products like Jonathan Osorio and Jay Chapman, who continue to trend positively.
“I knew building each year we were going to get DPs,” Bezbatchenko said, “but we had to build the core and get guys who could see minutes.”
Now they could be targeted in chasing one of the most important free-agency signings in the club’s 10-year history.
“We were very close to a trade to pick up Drew Moor in the summer of 2015,” Bezbatchenko told the Sun. “You know what you’re going to get from him. He knows the league. He’s been in the playoffs.”
They landed Moor this past off-season.
Like Moor, the same can be said for Will Johnson, Steven Beitashour and Clint Irwin, all of whom arrived last winter in quick succession to help the Reds reach the conference semifinals against New York City on Sunday.
“We’d had significant improvement heading into this season,” Bezbatchenko said. “The road map was clear on what we needed to improve.
“There was a nucleus and core that we felt we could build upon. There isn’t going to be an overhaul in the next three years. The fact of the matter is we just gave up a lot of goals last year.”
They conceded the second-least this season after conceding the most a season ago.
“The last three years, our fans have seen a team that’s going to continue to improve and a front office that has the skills and intelligence and passion to keep this club on the rise and be the top club in North America,” Bezbatchenko said.
He used a bit of imagery to sum up the evolution of the Reds.
Along one of the corridors at the club’s KIA Training Ground is a string of starting lineup pictures from each of the club’s 10 seasons.
“There are complete wholesale changes in every picture until you reach 2014,” Bezbatchenko said. “Then you start to see consistency.
“In the background, you can see fans dwindle until 2014.”
The season after Leiweke handed Bezbatchenko the keys to a franchise so fraught with bad contracts and crummy players, it was deemed worse than an expansion team.
Three years later, Toronto FC fans are starting to believe.
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