EDITORIAL: "It's all gone quiet over there!" TFC adopts a quiet approach to the off-season

You have no idea how hard it is to find a mouth-closed picture.

Perhaps Tim Leiweke and his posse down at BMO Field have been listening to Rob Ford's faux-bravado "actions speak louder than words" phrase - or maybe they're all on crack. It's your call. One thing few TFC supporters won't deny though is the strange sound coming from the local football club... silence. While the off-season is still young, the usually overly verbose club has been noticeably muted. 　

Now this is not in any way a complaint, we are definitely fans of substance over style but it is a glaring difference from the past seven years. While there has so far been little to speak of surrounding the club (apart from the latest high profile DP to turn their nose up at The Reds) it is unusual for the Lakeshore House of Promos to stop flapping their gums for this long. Is this an unexpected maturity from the club or is there more to it? 　

The front office has indeed had a change of personality, with the likes of former public faces such as Paul Beirne and the well-liked Asif Hossain moving on to greener pastures, but other aspects of TFC winters are missing as well. Gone are the pub crawls, post-season wrap parties and often hilarious town halls of years past. While we here have never been massive fans of any of these glad-handing events, other fans have rightfully enjoyed them. Some of these fans are now feeling a lack of "personal presence" from their club.

EDITORIAL: "It's all gone quiet over there..." But does TFC really care?

The blurst of times.

With apologies to the majority of the BMO Field population (circa 2007-2013), Toronto FC's image was built in large part on the visage of the South Stand. Now in no way are we claiming that the supporters in the south are more valuable or important than any others in the ground but it was the sizzle of the "European atmosphere" that TFC immediately harnessed to carve their place in Toronto's crowded sports entertainment market.

For the first few seasons, the club and its "benevolent" owners were handed a sweet gift from PR heaven - an organic (for the most part), grassroots supporter culture that was the talk of the town. Nary was a TFC ad or promo seen without the obligatory smoke-strewn, flag-waving, streamer-laden "Ultra" supporter that most other MLS markets lacked at the time. Word was out - Toronto had "the best fans in the league (TM)" and MLSE was more than happy to bottle it. The team thingamajig could come later.

Sadly, in true MLSE fashion, their promotional eyes grew too big for their belly and the fervent support they were so happy to promote was not rewarded... but rather milked. BMO Field ticket prices rose and game day expenses grew while expensive friendlies were shoehorned in on the back of this seemingly unquenched thirst for local football. Again, all while failing to meet the one request their fiery fans salivated over - a competitive side of their own.

Seven long and very unfruitful seasons later and the South Stand is a shadow of its former self. Large patches of empty seats and most noticeably an atmosphere that has gone from "European" down to "USL" levels. It is not a from lack of desire, no, TFC fans deserve all credit for still even discussing this team, rather it is the death by a thousand cuts of broken promises, greed and sheer drudgery. With the lowering in volume in the south, the rest of BMO Field has followed to become a fairly passion-free ground. The question is: do TFC and their owners actually care?