Toronto FC hires Ryan Nelsen to be their head coach...eventually.

It was somewhat curious to see the MLS rumor mill at work in the last couple of days as Ryan Nelsen's name was being floated around in connection with the top job at Toronto FC, a club desperately in need of an infusion of inspiration. While the concern about Nelsen's imminent appointment was always going to be one of his lack of prior experience in management or coaching in any capacity, the hire of Nelsen, at least in and of itself, had a bit of promise attached to it in advance of Toronto's Tuesday unveiling of the man tabbed to be the next man to try his hand at steering Toronto into the promised land of the MLS postseason that they have yet to participate in during their time in the league. After all, Nelsen drew widespread acclaim during his extended time with DC United and Blackburn and short tours of duty with Tottenham and QPR for being a rather cerebral player who had a knack of reading the game so expertly from his spot at the heart of a defense. Surely such a soccer mind would translate well into management to some degree.

Moreover, MLS fans have seen a couple of the league's alumni, Ben Olsen and Jason Kreis, adapt well to management in MLS, with the former breathing life into the club he served so admirably as a player and the latter doing his part to transform Real Salt Lake from a bottom feeder to an MLS Cup champion in 2009 and a bona fide championship contender in the years since. Of course, the common thread between both Olsen and Kreis is that both had hung up their playing boots before shifting their focus to the managerial hotseat; Nelsen will not be joining them in this retirement just yet, we learned Tuesday. This disclosure is where the intrigue about Nelsen's appointment took a turn towards the bizarre.



Given that Nelsen has still been playing at the Premier League level with QPR this season (though many would suggest that QPR themselves are hardly playing at such a level), it would not have been out of the realm of possibility for Nelsen to perhaps continue on playing while being in charge of the red portion of MLS in Canada, and indeed, Toronto fans could have perhaps relished the chance to see the on-field leadership that the likes of Nelsen and a healthy Torsten Frings would, in tandem, bring to Toronto's 2013 edition. Indeed, Nelsen is to keep playing, even after taking the Toronto job--just not for Toronto.

Yes, in a flummoxing turn of events that sours a shrewd hire before it can even come to pass, Nelsen is to continue plying his trade as a player with QPR, or at least while he is still needed for Harry Redknapp's lagging side. Indeed, we've seen player/managers around the world before, but it probably goes without saying that we have never encountered a situation such as this in which a player/manager is dividing his duties between two clubs entirely. With Nelsen still playing for QPR, he will miss the MLS Superdraft, Toronto's preseason training, and, in a likelihood, Toronto's early portion of the season.

On the strength of what we've seen from Toronto FC during their existence in MLS, we shouldn't be surprised by this at all. Wise front office decisions have hardly been the club's forte, but the accepted train of thought was that new club president and general manager Kevin Payne, he of DC United fame, would serve to craft Toronto into a more finely tuned, better run member of MLS. Maybe the Toronto FC bug has bitten him, too, much to the chagrin of the fans.

So just what are Toronto fans to make of this turn of events with the Nelsen hire? On the outside looking in, at least, it certainly appears that Toronto looks to be in danger of being a rudderless ship come the 2013 campaign's beginning, which is exactly what the passionate fans in Toronto do not deserve, and indeed, the club should be ashamed of leaving the hopes of these fans hanging in the balance before the season has even begun as a result of this confusing arrangement with Ryan Nelsen. Obviously Toronto should have gone after Nelsen only if he was going to be in a position to take the job without any other distractions, or, as would be more reasonable, they should have gone after someone else entirely or stuck with Paul Mariner. Instead, their new boss is quite likely to make his way over to a season that is already on the brink of disaster or, at best, anonymity, before he has even had the chance to take charge of his first training session.

I want to believe that Ryan Nelsen has what it takes to lead a team, and in all honesty, he probably does. Sadly for him and his post-playing career aspirations, the intricacy of the circumstances of his first foray into management just has disaster written all over it. So is life with Toronto FC.