BREAKING NEWS: Great ExPrektations

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.

Yes, Preki has indeed been handed the keys to the jalopy and named as Toronto FC's new head coach on a three year deal. Unlike most new coaches though, the straight-talking Serbian seemed to call it like it is. There were no grand statements about "how great the team is already", now false admission that TFC is "really close to winning" and no promises that things would change overnight.

The only promise Preki would give is that the days of TFC's locker room being an easy place to be are over with him as boss. He was optimistic about changing the character of the team work and instilling a hard work ethic. If any of the current squad thinks they are exempt, Preki offered this invitation to his new team "are you in or are you out?" Based on this past season, some are definitely out.

Preki likes to build his teams from the back and touts the importance of strong no-nonsense defence. "Defence builds championships" the new boss said, adding that he will "organize from the back". When asked about the already wafer thin back line, the coach said "we are looking at a couple of players already".

As far as the current squad goes, it seems as if Preki will not suffer fools easily and laziness will be punished. He famously did that at Chivas USA when he felt Amado Guevara was too lazy which most TFC fans can commiserate with. On the topic of inheriting Guevara again, all Preki would say was "Guevara had a good year for Toronto". Chilly was the best way to describe this part of the conference.

In the end, Preki laid it on the line when saying TFC "does not have enough players to win." This is of course a much different message than the one Mo has been saying throughout 2009 so now we will see where the truth lies. Preki can be successful in Toronto but Mo Johnston has to do two things: get the coach the players he needs and then get completely out of the way.