Photo by ISIphotos.com

Toronto FC is in the midst of a two-match home winning streak, so you would think the talk around Toronto would be about Dwayne DeRosario's recent goal-scoring binge and TFC's improved defense.

Instead, the talk is centered around recent criticisms of the club from former interim head coach Chris Cummins and former player Ali Gerba, who both singled out TFC director of soccer Mo Johnston for the brunt of their criticism.

Former Toronto FC head coach John Carver has been following the evolving soap opera and can't help but feel disappointed at the distractions being thrown at the team, or the negative comments coming from disgruntled former members of the TFC family.

"Mo can look like the scapegoat in all of this because he's been there the four years, but sometimes you have to look deeper than that," said Carver, who is now an assistant for English club Plymouth Argyle. "If your team isn't performing, you're going to look for somebody to pin the blame on, and an easy target is Mo and people are jumping on the bandwagon."

Carver left his job as Toronto FC head coach last season for undisclosed reasons, leaving the job to Cummins, his assistant at the time.

"People have their reasons for saying what they say," Carver said. "I can only say from my point of view. At the end of the day, if I'm the coach and I'm in charge of the football team, and I'm not successful, as far as I'm concerned, the buck stops with me.

"If you've got faith in your abilities and what you're doing you're going to have arguments with people because you're going to have disagreements,"Carver said. "But you just get on with it. If you're man enough to face those facts you get on with it and don't use anybody as an excuse.

"I would never use Mo Johnston or anybody else as an excuse for why I wasn't successful."

Carver admitted being caught off guard by Cummins recent interview, but he admitted to feeling a sense of blame for what apparently became an unhealthy working relationship between Cummins and Johnston.

"I was a little shocked because obviously I took Chris across there as my assistant, and I felt a little bit of responsibility to him because he did go across there with his family and he did change his life," Carver said. "I think he got some positives out of it as well, but I did feel a little bit guilty that I upped stakes and left him as well.

"It gave him the opportunity to be the main guy, the head guy, and I think that puts him in good stead for the future."

Carver did take issue with one of the things Cummins said in the interview, specifically his claim that Carver had banned Johnston from the locker room during his tenure as head coach.

"I never banned or stopped Mo from coming into the locker room," Carver said. "He didn't come into the locker room because he didn't need to come in. I had a strong locker room. He didn' interfere one little bit.

"We had our discussions and disagreements on certain issues, but I tell you what, he never interfered with team affairs. He never asked me what the team was. He never told me what team to pick. I took full responsibility for doing that.

"When I was the head coach I made all the football decisions, I made all the decisions on players coming in and out of the football club," Carver said. "What Mo would do is he would recommend players to me. We would never sign anybody without me saying yes, I definitely wanted him."

Carver acknowledged that his relationship with Johnston was much better than the public realized. They had their disagreements, but ultimately found a solid understanding.

"What people have to realize is that I was originally coming to the football club as an assistant coach to Mo, but obviously the circumstances changed and when I got there I was the head coach," Carver said. "Mo found it quite hard making that transition from being the head coach to moving upstairs, but he did it better than I would have done.

"Everybody has this image about Mo but until you get to know the guy you don't realize what kind of a guy he is," Carver said. "He's a decent guy who loves football and loves Toronto FC. He wants to do what's best for that club.

"He could almost certainly just jump on an airplane to England or Scotland and walk into a job," Carver said. "People don't realize how lucky they are to have someone like him, with his experience."

Carver still follows MLS closely as both he and Plymouth head coach and former New England assistant Paul Mariner often spend time each weekend watching MLS highlights online. He recalls his time in Toronto fondly, and while he does not regret his decision to leave, he still roots for Toronto FC and admits that his departure didn't make things any easier for the club.

"We were building something very special, and I feel a little bit as if I let Mo down in a sense by leaving," Carver said. "Everybody knows I'm a man of principles and I stuck by my principles, but I find it really difficult when I see Mo come under so much criticism because I know how he works.

"Mo might have his faults, like we all have our faults, nobody's perfect, but this is a time for everyone to get behind the football team and talk about football. Not talking about what's gone on in the past. That's history. Why dig up old dirt, if there was any dirt to dig up?

"Let's get on with it. It's a fresh start. Let's support the team and get the team going again."