Preki seeking stability, cohesiveness at TFC
New Toronto head coach relishing opportunity to turn team around
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"It's not going to be about one guy or two guys. It's going to be about the team and who can fit into that group," Preki said. "We can't have seven players that want to just play with the ball and not defend, or 11 guys who can defend but can't go forward. We've got to find the right balance to fit the system. The player who can't fit in the system won't be here. It's all about the system, it's all about them playing as one.
"We'll have two groups -- the group that wants to go on the ship and the group that doesn't. The opportunity will be given to them: are you in or are you out? It's that simple."
With Toronto FC officially announcing Predrag Radosavljevic's three-year coaching contract on Thursday, BMO Field will be the latest stop in the storied Major League Soccer career of the man known leaguewide simply by his nickname. Preki, 46, joins the Reds after three years as the head coach of Chivas USA, where he compiled a 40-29-21 record and led the Red-and-White to the MLS Cup Playoffs in all three of those seasons.
Preki said that he felt it was time to move on despite the strong side he had developed with Chivas, and he wanted to explore new pursuits with other teams.
"I decided a couple of months ago to leave Chivas because I felt I had exhausted all the resources down there and I don't think mentally I had it in me," Preki said.
"What's life without challenges? If you have no challenges in life or no goals, you're in the wrong business. ... You have to something inside you that charges you towards more success. I like to think I have that drive and I want people next to me to have that drive. I know [TFC manager and director of soccer Mo Johnston] does, I know the ownership does, and now it's putting together where it really matters, and that's out there in front of the 20,000 people who come every week."
Those fans played a key role in Preki's decision to come to Toronto. He said he first felt the urge to be a part of Toronto FC when he made his first visit to BMO Field on August 18, 2007, when Chivas picked up a 2-0 win against TFC.
"The first time I was here a few years ago, when I saw the passion in the stands, I knew this was a place for me," Preki said. "Now, after spending some time with the management here and getting to know some of these people, I definitely know this is the place for me. This is a winning place."
The new coach will face high expectations with his new team. The Reds have yet to reach the postseason in their first three seasons of existence, and Preki is already the fourth head coach in the club's short history.
In spite of this playoffs-or-bust mentality going into 2010, Preki said his goal is long-term success for TFC.
"It's going to be a process. We don't want one year of success and then go back down," Preki said. "We want to have stability, a core of players to build on and a team that competes every week and every year. ... There's nothing better than winning. That's what it's all about."
When former interim head coach Chris Cummins left the club after the season, Johnston said that he wanted a coach with MLS experience on the TFC sidelines given that Cummins and previous head coach John Carver had both come into MLS for the first time and at times struggled to adapt to the North American game. In Preki, Johnston now has a coach who knows the league inside and out as both a coach and as a player.
"His whole background is geared in success," Johnston said. "You can see the way he handled himself at Chivas -- the first year, he was coach of the year. He got to the [postseason] dance three times and he wants to come to an organization that's going to win."
Johnston knows Preki's ability first-hand. The two played together for Everton of the English Premiership in the 1992-93 season, and crossed paths again in MLS as members of the Kansas City Wizards from 1996 to 2000. The highlight of their tenure as teammates was the MLS Cup won by the Wizards in 2000.
That MLS Cup was just one of many honors that Preki collected in his playing days. A member of the MLS All-Time XI team, the Belgrade native twice led the league in scoring and was named MVP in 1997 and 2003, and is among the leaders in virtually every historical offensive category.
Johnston considers Preki to be in the "top two or three all-time" among all MLS players, and believes that this winning pedigree will extend into the TFC locker room.
"As a coach he's going to bring stability, discipline and his work ethic," Johnston said. "We know what he brings in terms of quality, and as you can hear he's so passionate. He's driven, driven by success, and that's what this organization needs. The locker room will be shaken up, absolutely. When a new guy comes in, that's going to happen. We'll do our due diligence and get some people in and some people out."
As both Johnston and Preki noted during the press conference, it seems clear that the Toronto roster will see some turnover over the winter. It might be a necessary tonic for a club that finished a point out of the playoffs last season, and was tormented by both late-game breakdowns and a seeming rift in the locker room.
Preki had his share of clashes with players at Chivas (including current TFC midfielder Amado Guevara) and will surely have a few more in Toronto in the midst of reshaping the roster. But Preki said that his hard-nosed style is born of a deep desire to both be the best and to deliver the best for his club.
"I demanded a lot out of myself when I played," Preki said. "I wanted to win more than anything in my life, and when I say that, that means I'm crazy competitive. Sometimes it's good or bad, it can go either way, but I like to think it's more good than bad. Once I stepped into coaching it's been the same for me. I [will make] a lot of demands in the locker room, not just from the players but from the staff. When we can salvage that from the top to the bottom, I think the success will come.
"People who want to be here had better be prepared for hard work."
Mark Polishuk is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
