Bill Manning’s time is running out after he oversaw Toronto FC and the Argonauts Championship as president of Major League Soccer and the Canadian Football League.
Manning also lacked the ability to fire and perform in a “what have you done for me lately?” style of questioning, and Toronto FC has been the anchor around his neck for the past few seasons.
The MLS team has a league record of 26 wins, 69 losses, and 30 draws since its last postseason appearance in 2020. In 2020, the team finished second in the league but failed to advance beyond the first round of the playoffs.
Manning, who changed coaches and GMs, found himself the target of criticism.
Toronto FC (7-13-3) is slipping down the MLS Eastern Conference standings after losing six straight league games this season and going winless in nine games (0-7-2). The news of Manning’s departure came the morning after the team lost 2-1 to eventual CPL champion Posey FC in the first leg of the Canadian Championship semifinals.
Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment said Manning’s departure was a mutual decision.
“This is a very difficult day,” MLSE President and CEO Keith Pelley told The Canadian Press. “Bill has been a key leader and contributor to our organization for nearly nine years. He is a capable team executive and, most importantly, a good person. So a day like today is difficult for all of us.
“We made a commitment to our organization and our fans that we would give our team every resource it could to win,” he added. “And we felt that making a change at this particular time would give us the best chance to do that.”
The move comes on the eve of TFC’s second transfer window opening, with manager John Herdman saying the struggling club will look to add talent.
“The timing was right,” Pelli said. “There’s a lot of work ahead.”
As part of the transition, Toronto FC general manager Jason Hernandez and Argonauts general manager Michael Clemons will report directly to Pelley.
The MLSE president said he plans to spend “significant time” with both franchises over the next month or so. A decision on the two team presidents will be “evaluated over the next several months.”
TFC never recovered from the pandemic.
Manning was named TFC president in October 2015, and later added the title of Agos president when the Canadian Football League franchise was acquired by MLSE in January 2018.
TFC won the treble of MLS Cup, Canadian Championship and Supporters’ Shield in 2017 and reached the MLS Cup final in 2019, but never recovered from being forced to move operations south of the border during the pandemic.
Since Greg Bennie’s departure in December 2020, the club has had a string of managerial appointments, including Chris Armas, Javier Perez and Bob Bradley, before appointing former Canada coach John Herdman in August last year.
Herdman is struggling to rebuild a team that lacks depth and squanders money like a drunken sailor.
Ali Curtis served as GM, Bradley served as sporting director, and Hernandez was promoted to GM in June 2023.
The Toronto Argonauts, who went 2-2 this season, won the 2022 Grey Cup under Manning, beating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 24-23.
But the CFL team also found itself in the spotlight off the field when quarterback Chad Kelly was suspended for nine regular-season games in May for violating the league’s gender-based violence policy following an investigation into a lawsuit filed by a former strength and conditioning coach against the player and the team.
Pelley said the Kelly incident did not influence his decision.
Manning was a two-time Major League Soccer Executive of the Year at Real Salt Lake before joining TFC. His hire meant that MLSE had a president in charge of its most valuable assets: Brendan Shanahan of the Maple Leafs, Masai Ujiri of the Raptors, and Manning of TFC.
TFC has been without a president since firing GM Kevin Payne in September 2013.
When Manning was hired, MLSE chairman Larry Tanenbaum called him “a significant and impressive executive.”
expensive signature
“Our goal is to bring an MLS championship to the fans in Toronto, and adding a leader of Bill’s caliber is another important part of that process and vision,” Tannenbaum added.
TFC has interest in MLSE, with Italian stars Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi ranked second and sixth in MLS this season, with $15.4 million and $6.295 million, respectively.
Since the Italian team debuted in July 2022, Toronto’s league record has been a disappointing 15 wins, 39 losses and 16 draws.
At the time of signing, Manning made headlines when he revealed that he started his player search on the Internet.
“I actually went on the Transfermarkt website and looked at who the players were that were out of contract with the Italian national team,” Manning told reporters. “And Lorenzo was one of the few that had an expiry contract. I started writing down who I thought were world-class players, who I thought would have commercial value in this market.”
Venezuelan international Yepersson Soteldo was initially signed as a draft pick but was a flop.
Manning won MLS Executive of the Year in 2012 and 2014 during his eight-year tenure with Real Salt Lake, winning the 2009 MLS Cup and finishing runner-up in 2013.
A native of Massapequa, New York, Manning began his sports management career in the Continental Indoor Soccer League in its inaugural season in 1993. He later moved to the United Soccer League with the Long Island Rough Riders and the Minnesota Thunder, where he was named USL Executive of the Year in 1999.
He entered MLS in 2000 as president and general manager of the Tampa Bay Mutinees.
After Tampa Bay closed, Manning went on to work for the NBA’s Houston Rockets (director of corporate partnerships) and then the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles (vice president of sales and services) before Real Salt Lake brought him back to MLS in 2008.
