TORONTO – Toronto FC has a new captain in US international midfielder
Michael Bradley
, who takes over from
Steven Caldwell
as the club’s seventh skipper.
Bradley told reporters midweek that the decision was made after he returned from US national team camp, during a meeting with Tim Bezbatchenko, Tim Leiweke and Greg Vanney at the Air Canada Centre. Bradley’s first question: “How is Stevie?”
“He and I have had a great relationship since I came to this club,” Bradley said of Caldwell. “There’s mutual respect, mutual admiration and there always will be. The first chance I got I called him. As preseason goes, there will be more opportunities to get away, grab a coffee and catch up in a longer way. At the end of the day, you need as many big personalities, leaders and winners as possible in your dressing room. I’m excited because I feel like we have that now.”
While Bradley now wears the armband, Caldwell’s role as a leader hasn’t been diminished. But that doesn't mean the former captain didn't harbor some reservations about the process.
“I just felt that it probably deserved a little bit more respect in the way that it was done,” Caldwell told reporters at training midweek. “We all knew it was coming and it should have been dealt with quicker and in a more precise matter. It dragged on, and it’s in a part of the season where we I feel we should be fully concentrating on gelling a team and being prepared for March 7.”
Reservations aside, there’s no love lost between the two men.
“Michael is an outstanding player,” Caldwell said. “He leads by example through his actions, through the way he plays and his passion for the game. I feel I lead in a different way: I bring out the best in people. I make sure everybody’s content and any problems they have, they put on my shoulders. I try to absorb that pressure or that problem for them, cure it, make it better so that they can play better football.”
“In the end of the day, people don’t follow armbands. They follow leaders,” Caldwell added.
For Vanney, the decision was one made with one eye to the future of the team.
“Steven didn’t do anything wrong but I feel like, and sitting down with the staff, we feel like we’re heading in a direction over the next few years and Michael is the name and the face, the intensity, the leader, at this point of his career, who is ready to take on this responsibility,” Vanney said.
“Leadership is not about one guy,” he continued “We need six, seven, eight guys in this team who have a voice and who are leaders, who can discuss things amongst themselves and with the staff. Damien [Perquis], Benoit [Cheyrou], Sebastian [Giovinco], Michael and Steven – I’m probably missing someone – but we have a lot of guys who have unique experiences but at the same time, they need to be uniquely involved in this team.”
