No news is good news? Not in that press conference…

No news is good news, right?

Well, after Toronto FC’s recent press conference we may have to rethink that one a little.

On the latest episode of Waking The Red Weekly presented by Footy Talks, Michael Singh and Jeffery P. Nesker tried to figure out the logic of a PR exercise that was more telling for what it (all too conspicuously) left out.

“As a child did you ever do something wrong and your parents knew but they wouldn’t tell you what it was? [Michael Singh began]You have to confess - everyone knows you did something wrong, but no one is saying it.

That’s the vibe that I got yesterday at TFC’s press conference, where general manager Ali Curtis spoke to the media, which to be honest, he doesn’t really do unless something major is happening.

It really felt like a bit of a ‘state of emergency’ vibe from TFC. Obviously the narratives around this team have been really, really bad, and they’re not helping themselves out either on the pitch, right?

So they came out to sort of remind everybody of what their goals are, and how they believe they’re still on track to achieve those goals.”

For Jefferey P. Nesker, the only goals scored here were own goals—and of the spectacular kind:

“My first question is this: did they need to do this press conference? I mean let’s forget about hindsight is 2020, because there were no answers. But beyond that some of the non-answers were more damning than saying nothing.

I mean, generally speaking, if you’re going to call a press conference, you want to communicate a point, and when people leave that press conference they want to be in a better place than they were when you opened the press conference - and I think they failed miserably on all accounts.

I mean, we were just saying last weekend that there’s a disconnect. And it’s not Armas’s fault, it’s just that he’s got a huge shadow of Vanney - how articulate he was, how charming he was, and what do they do a week later? They trot out Armas at a press conference—which they called—knowing full well that he’s going to get asked a Jozy question, and what does he do? He petulantly doesn’t answer. That’s horrific.

Like who’s idea was it to set this up so that that happens? I mean, did somebody say to him: hey if you get asked a Jozy question...again, I’m not going to say what would Vanney have done? But what anybody SHOULD have done is just BS us!

Give us platitudes about how you love him. It doesn’t have to be true and it can be immediately reversed a week later, but say something. I mean folding your hands and going ‘uh-uh, I ain’t going to talk about that’ - that’s schoolyard nonsense.

I mean who put him in a position to even make that decision, right? It just boggles my mind. If he’s going to be that petulant, don’t put him up there. I’d accept a dancing bear or an organ grinder over that.

That is so damning, and it didn’t have to happen. That’s why I’m so upset about it - just say something, but don’t say nothing, that’s so insane.”

As Michael pointed out, Armas had in fact given some brief details on the Jozy situation at the opening of the press conference, but that didn’t render the overall event any more beneficial or insightful for TFC fans:

“To be fair, at the beginning of the press conference I think he was asked an initial Jozy question. He did give an answer on it, but then said that he wasn’t going to talk about it anymore. He was asked about Jozy again towards the end of the press conference and then he just had to reiterate initially.

But Jeff, I think your initial point hit the nail on the head - this was a press conference that was called by TFC. They weren’t revealing anything new. The needle was not moved in any way, shape, or form, in terms of any news with this club or the Jozy Altidore situation. The only update we got is that the situation is still ongoing.”

For everything TFC - check out the full episode of this week’s Waking the Red Weekly now, also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify! Kindly like, rate, and subscribe!