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TORONTO -- Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment boss Tim Leiweke has cleaned house at Toronto FC while hitching his wagon to rookie manager Ryan Nelsen. For anyone wondering, the path at the beleaguered Major League Soccer franchise is now crystal clear -- its Leiwekes way or the highway. And Nelsen is riding shotgun. Gone are president and general manager Kevin Payne, as well as Earl Cochrane, Paynes right-hand man and Torontos director of team and player operations. The future of Pat Onstad, chief scout and manager of football partnerships, seems uncertain. Leiweke said Onstad will not continue in his current position but "may have a role going forward" elsewhere at the 4-12-10 club. But Nelsen stays and Leiweke told a media conference call Thursday that whoever succeeds Payne will have to work with the former New Zealand international as manager. It appears the new GM will also have to get in step with Leiweke and Nelsen on planned high-profile player acquisitions in the January transfer window. "Ryan and I are not only 100 per cent on the same page on this January window and what were looking for, the positions were looking for, we have had very specific conversations about (players)," Leiweke said. Not being in lockstep with the president and CEO of MLSE proved to be Paynes demise. Leiweke, who took over on June 30, said it had become clear that he and Payne had differences. "Philosophically there was no difference of opinion on the four building points (the academy, draft, trading within MLS, and designated players) but there was a difference of opinion on implementation," he said. "And I had to get everybody on the same page. Thus changes." Nelsen apparently ticks the right boxes. "Im comfortable with Ryan. He will be our coach next year," said Leiweke. "Ryan sees the world exactly the way we do." For Nelsen, its an impressive show of survival by a newcomer to MLS -- especially considering that the well-connected Payne has been in the league since its inception. Leiweke, who stressed there was no rift at the club, did not detail his differences with Payne. But it seems clear that Paynes inability to land a marquee talent was a major stumbling block. "Remember we have the hardest part of thing (done). Which is our owners gave us the money (to acquire players)," Leiweke said. The MLSE boss did say he didnt see the sense of having one person chase players and another person attempting to close the deal, which seemed to be the way Onstad and Payne operated. And Leiweke is a closer. He was active in bringing David Beckham and Robbie Keane to the Los Angeles Galaxy while he ran AEG. For the fans, its yet another changing of the guard at a floundering franchise that seems in a never-ending state of flux. Nelsen is the teams eighth manager in seven years. The team has never progressed to the playoffs and sports a woeful all-time league record of 49-100-65. Payne and Nelsen inherited a horror show. Toronto (5-21-8) posted franchise worsts in 2012 for wins (five), losses (21), points (23), goals against (62) and winless string (14). Privately they were shocked at the state of the teams salary cap, which was squeezed by bloated, ill-conceived contracts. Payne took a scalpel to the cap, shedding players while dealing to acquire allocation money to increase their resources. "I have nothing but good things to say about Kevin," Leiweke said. "He did a yeomans job here on cleaning up bad contracts and giving us a chance to build going forward without some of the heavy burden and the lack of cap space that weve been dealing with for a while here." The dismal showing in 2012 prompted MLSE to roll back 2013 season-ticket prices to that of the clubs inaugural year in 2007. After another season of failure, Leiweke says season-ticket holders wont have to commit to their tickets until January -- instead of later this month -- so they can make up their mind on the teams moves. "By then we will either have done what we have to do and they will hold us accountable and say I like what you did, Im in. Or if we fail here, were going to have a mass exodus," Leiweke said. "And we get it. Were OK with that, all of us. "We will put our feet to the fire here ... We better do a good job because I dont think a marketing campaign is going to cut it this time." He said he didnt know what decision had been made on whether ticket prices will be raised for next season. The search for a new GM has begun with Leiweke saying his preference was for someone who knows the league, its teams, CBA and salary cap intricacies -- ironically all strengths of Payne. "Yes theyve got to inherit our decision on Ryan but we also cleaned out some other situations here so that they can have a clean slate and put their own staff together," said Leiweke. "And we will expect them to do that. "And I dont want to be the GM. We dont have time for that. We will be involved on the DP." An MLSE spokesman said after the conference call that the organization is looking for a GM for the soccer club rather than a president/GM like Payne. The search for a DP will include Italy, he said when asked about Torontos sizable Italian population. Toronto currently has two designated players: Argentine midfielder Matias Laba and Dutch forward Danny Koevermans, whose contract expires at the end of the season. Leiweke says the club is figuring out how to fill the holes in its roster, with funds and cap space available to go after two "marquee" designated players in January. "We do believe that we could be looking at a team next year that like Montreal, like Vancouver and like Portland, can be competitive," he said, citing the last three expansion teams to join the league. "Were not waiting for January," he added. "We will be over in Europe soon and we already have had conversations with teams and agents so we understand whats out there, who we want and how they fit into the rest of Ryans team." It is possible the team may make a deal with a player during the January window to join Toronto after the summer World Cup. "This is about finding the right players, for our team and our coach." Leiweke shot down any suggestion that he and Nelsen were on a different page in terms of the timing of signing a star player. Nelsen had said he wanted to have the right supporting cast in place before pulling the DP trigger, a view Leiweke did not share. "There is zero disagreement on nows the time," Leiweke said when asked about it. Leiweke had also said he wanted to wait until the end of the season to evaluate his soccer team. Toronto has eight games remaining, starting Saturday in Portland. He attributed making the decision ahead of time to the fact that "critical decisions" on the future of the club had to be made sooner rather than later. He also said he wanted Paynes replacement to have as much time as possible ahead of the January window. Whether Payne was aware the writing was on the wall is unknown. But Leiweke said he knew "in the last few weeks" that change was needed. Leiweke apparently used that time to pick Nelsens brain and plan ahead. Payne was appointed in late November, with the longtime D.C. United executive seen as the soccer man long needed to right the ship. Toronto has won just four league games since, with 25 new players coming through the door and 25 exiting since the end of last season. Leiweke has now axed two presidents at MLSE, having parted ways with Raptors boss Bryan Colangelo earlier this summer "This one was the hardest one so far, simply because not only was Kevin fairly new here but Kevin and I go back a long way," Leiweke. Cheap Lebron Shoes . After deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league would consider pulling out of Sochi if something "significant" happens before players arrive, those set to participate are trying not to worry about that scenario. Lebron James Sneakers Wholesale .com) - Theres nothing better for a team than to send out the staff ace in the most important game of the season. http://www.cheaplebronshoes.net/. Western and the second-ranked Laval Rouge et Or (7-0) once again received 20 and 10 first-place votes from the Football Reporters of Canada panel, respectively. Rounding out the Top 10 are the Calgary Dinos (7-0), Queens Gaels (7-1), Guelph Gryphons (7-1), Montreal Carabins (5-2), Bishops Gaiters (5-2), McMaster Marauders (5-3), Manitoba Bisons (4-3) and the Saskatchewan Huskies (4-3) Western crushed York 50-10 last Saturday in its league finale to secure first place in the OUA standings and a bye in the first round of the conference playoffs. Lebron Shoes For Cheap . Raonic, the mens No. 8 seed from Thornhill, Ont., needed more than three hours to overcome Frenchman Gilles Simon 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 and become the first Canadian man into the fourth round at Roland Garros. Lebron Shoes Sales . 15 in Hamburg. The fight was originally slated for Sept. 6 but had to be postponed after Klitschko tore a bicep in sparring and was forced to miss four weeks of training.Salvador, Brazil - The United States did well to emerge from the "Group of Death," but the Americans are keen on making further waves in the World Cup, starting with Tuesdays clash with Belgium at the Arena Fonte Nova. You can listen to all the action on TSN Radio 1050 in Toronto, TSN Radio 690 in Montreal, TSN Radio 1200 in Ottawa, and TEAM 1410 in Vancouver beginning at 4pm et/1pm pt. After opening Group G play with a last-gasp 2-1 win over Ghana, the Americans looked certain to progress to the knockout round when they carried a one-goal lead into the final minute of stoppage time against Portugal. But a late goal from Silvestre Varela left the U.S. to fight Germany with a spot in the round of 16 at stake. The Yanks suffered a 1-0 defeat in the finale, but Portugals 2-1 victory over Ghana in Group Gs other contest was enough to put the U.S. through to the next round on goal difference. According to U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, advancing from the toughest group in the World Cup was a great accomplishment, but he does not want the Americans to be satisfied with that feat. "Its a great achievement to get out of this group and into the knockout rounds," Klinsmann said following the defeat to Germany. "It was a difficult game, both physically and mentally, because the knowledge that a draw would be enough was always at the back of our minds. We were a bit too nervous and showed them too much respect at the start but we calmed down as the match wore on. Weve got a great team and we put in a superb performance. We could have created a few more chances but overall Im satisfied. "It was one of the most difficult groups at the tournament. Ghana and Portugal are good teams and Germany are one of the favorites to win the title. Were still learning and growing as a team. Now everything starts from scratch again because the knockoutt rounds are very different.dddddddddddd" Klinsmann made waves before the start of the tournament by stating that the United States realistically could not win the World Cup, but he signaled his true ambition for the team by instructing the players to plan for a long stay in Brazil. "I think if everybody goes to his own personal limit in the context of the team, were going to go further in this tournament," he told reporters. "But youve got to realize that moment. So I asked everybody, all the players, to make sure that all their flights are booked after July 13 (the date of the final). Thats just how you have to approach a World Cup, no matter what happens now. You can always change your flights, so start with the end in mind. The end is July 13. "Every single day were going to have on the knockout stage, can we do it? Yes we can. This is now one of the benchmarks. We want to be in the top ten, top 12 of the world one day. So if we want to be there, this is now the moment." Belgium should provide a stern test for the Americans, though. The two nations have faced one another twice during Klinsmanns tenure as U.S. coach with Belgium coming out victorious on both occasions. But in the World Cup thus far, Belgium has been slightly underwhelming. The Red Devils claimed maximum points from their three matches of the group stage, but the performances have been rather unconvincing. At many times, Belgium has looked disjointed, as if the immensely talented individuals on the team were playing for themselves. The Americans, by contrast, have been a well-oiled unit playing off one another both in attack and in defense. Belgium, strong on paper, coming up against an American side that has been made to grind out results makes Tuesdays tussle at the Arena Fonte Nova one of the more intriguing clashes of the round of 16. ' ' '