TORONTO -
It was a disappointing end to a season that started with plenty of optimism.
Toronto FC was shut out in its regular-season finale and missed out on the playoffs by a single point. Days later, interim coach Chris Cummins left the team and confirmed that a few "poor characters" had disrupted the locker-room.
Enter Predrag Radosavlijevic -- known by his nickname "Preki" -- who was introduced as Toronto FC's new head coach Thursday.
Preki, who left Chivas USA this month after three seasons as head coach, said he's up for the challenge of getting Toronto FC on track. He also made it very clear that he's only interested in players who are committed, united and are willing to put in the work.
"We'll have two groups," Preki said. "The group that wants to go on the ship and the group that doesn't want to go on the ship. And that's going to make it easy for us.
"It's going to be up to them. The opportunity will be given to them. Now are you in or are you out? It's very simple."
Some Toronto FC players were quite honest with their assessments after the team missed the playoffs for the third straight year.
Star midfielder Dwayne De Rosario said some of his teammates lacked heart. Rookie midfielder Sam Cronin said a new mentality was needed.
Preki didn't duck the locker-room issue at his introductory news conference. He said he won't have time for any so-called bad apples.
"Things will be different," he said. "How different? You just have to wait and see, you just have to trust all of us right here.
"I can't promise you that we're going to win tomorrow but we'll win soon because we're going to have a committed group on the field."
Those sentiments were echoed by Toronto FC director of soccer Mo Johnston, who said he's confident Preki is the right man for the job.
"I know the character and I know the man," Johnston said. "He's driven and he's driven by success and this is what this organization needs.
"The locker-room will be shaken up, absolutely, 100 per cent. A new guy comes in, that's going to happen. We sat and spoke about numerous players and we'll do our due diligence and get some people in here and get some people out."
Johnston and Preki used to play together with English Premier League side Everton in the early 1990's. They also won an MLS Cup together in 2000 with the Kansas City Wizards.
"I demanded a lot out of myself when I played. I wanted to win more than anything in my life. And when I say that, that means I'm crazy competitive," Preki said. "Is it sometimes good or sometimes bad? You can go either way but I like to think it's more good than bad. And once I stepped into the coaching thing, it's the same to me.
"I have a lot of demanding things for the group in the locker-room. Not just from the players, from the staff. And when we can establish that from the top to the bottom, I think the success will come."
Preki, 46, was born in Yugoslavia and obtained American citizenship in 1996. He was named MLS coach of the year in 2007 after guiding Chivas USA to a first-place finish in the Western Conference.
Preki signed a three-year deal with Toronto FC.
"I know what he brings to the table," Johnston said. "He brings everything and that's what I want. I want to be sitting upstairs knowing full well that the locker-room is run properly. End of story."
Preki has some solid building blocks in place in De Rosario, captain Jim Brennan and star midfielder Julian de Guzman.
The new coach will also be reunited with Amado Guevara. The two butted heads at Chivas USA in 2007, with Guevara playing only four games before being loaned to a Honduran team and later signing with Toronto.
When asked about Guevara, Preki said it's premature to weigh in on plans for specific players. He wants to go over things with his coaching staff first.
"The way we're going to run things is it's not going to be about one guy or two guys," Preki said. "It's going to be about a team and about a group and who can fit in that group. We'll see, we'll think and we'll assess whether Amado fits and then we'll make a decision."
Chivas USA reached the playoffs in all three years with Preki at the helm. He has a career regular-season coaching record of 40-29-21.
With Toronto FC, he feels the results will come by building from the back end out, with strong defensive play leading to more success.
"You can't have seven guys that only want to play with the ball," Preki said. "You've got to have some chiefs and some Indians. I would like to think that a few more Indians sometimes is better than a few more chiefs."
Preki added that a high level of commitment will be an absolute requirement.
"I like quite a few guys here," Preki said. "Of course, we have some good players. Do we have enough to win? No. To be honest with you, no.
"Can we change it? Yes."
