TORONTO

Most TFC supporters tore a strip off Tim Leiweke last month.

They thought MLSE’s top boss couldn’t deliver on his promise to make an unprecedented signing, never mind two.

Now that the dust has cleared, captain Steven Caldwell says it’s up to the players to make good on the opportunity.

“The football club has delivered what it promised to me and to everyone else by signing these guys and giving us every opportunity to be a successful team,” Caldwell told the Toronto Sun in a phone interview this week, days before the Reds meet for pre-season physicals.

“Now it’s up to us to come together and work very, very hard to achieve the goals.”

As TFC’s veteran leader told the Sun on Tuesday, that means being a playoff team — for the first time in franchise history — in 2014.

It means eventually moulding the Reds into title contenders year after year.

“I’ve never been lucky enough to be at a team with the financial resources MLSE has,” Caldwell said of TFC’s ability to swoop for the its new $100-million men, Jermain Defoe and Michael Bradley.

He mentioned Dwayne De Rosario and the rest a few breaths later.

“It’s never been this spectacular,” TFC’s 33-year-old centre back continued. “But we’ve got hard work to do to blend as a team and make sure we’re all on the same page. I’m sure we will be. We’ve got eight weeks to prepare properly and be ready for that first game."

The Reds open the season on March 15 in Seattle.

This weekend, they’ll open training camp in Sarasota, Fla., the first chance the team all of Toronto has been talking about will come together since making off-season commotion the likes of which MLS has never seen.

“I followed it,” said Caldwell, despite taking winter junkets to Mexico and the U.K. “I’d look at my phone and stuff and see what was happening. It was exciting. We’re signing some quality players and strengthening areas.

“With the signings that we’re making and the feeling around the football club, I’ve been desperate to get back.”

For weeks, fans and media alike have been drawing up their projected lineups featuring a host of players who’ve never even met.

First up for captain Caldwell is getting new signings to settle into the team, including Justin Morrow and Bradley Orr, defenders who are likely to feature prominently across TFC’s back four this season.

“The guys will learn very quickly what we’re trying to do and how we like to defend and attack,” Caldwell said. “We’ll be working on that in camp, making sure these guys integrate very quickly. Then it will be a fight for places.”

Then there’s managing new personalities.

Brazilian utility man Jackson had his fair share of on-field disputes before coming over from Dallas. And De Rosario has been out-spoken throughout his career.

Add in big-ticket items like Defoe, Bradley and Gilberto, and Caldwell’s biggest obstacle might be getting the dressing room to act as one.

“Everyone will learn that we have a set of rules and a code of conduct that we expect everybody at TFC to follow,” he said. “We’re trying to build that, a fantastic football club for the future ... I’m certain that everyone who is lucky enough to wear that shirt will do that.”

The other expectation is goals. The Reds are all but certain to up their shockingly low goal total from a season ago.

Assuming Defoe, Gilberto and De-Ro all have — at minimum — solid seasons, TFC’s push for the post-season could come down to whether the Reds finally seal up what has been a leaky back line for three seasons.

“We had not a bad (goals against) record last season, but this season I’m expecting us to be a very tight unit,” Caldwell said.

“I have very high hopes for Doneil (Henry). The improvements he has made in the time I’ve been here has been remarkable. I truly feel this is the season for him to kick up to that next level to improve his decision-making.

“We have a lot of people who can play that centre-half position. It’s up to us to make the management feel that we are the partnership.”

It’s one of the few question marks that remain during TFC’s remarkable on-paper turnaround, a complete 180 that has seen the club go from league piñata to a popular topic of conversation.

“I never got down on anything,” Caldwell said of getting through last season. “Yes, we want to win more and wanted success quickly, but it was a building process.”

“Credit to MLSE and the football club for actually delivering on what they were promising.”

CALDWELL, ORR: CHILDHOOD MATES

Steven Caldwell goes way back with incoming TFC defender Bradley Orr.

Like, way back.

It turns out the pair spent time together growing up in Newcastle’s youth system in the early 2000s.

“We’d all live in a big guest house,” Caldwell said. “Brad would come along and we’d take care of him and make sure he was on the straight and narrow.”

Caldwell told the Toronto Sun on Tuesday he has stayed in contact with Orr since the two went their separate ways.

“He wants to win,” Caldwell said of Orr. “He’s a fantastic character, a great guy and he’s a lad I’ve known since 11 or 12 years old.

Toronto FC has yet to officially introduce Orr, who the BBC reported last week will be on loan from Blackburn until next December. The Sun has since confirmed a deal for the 31-year-old English fullback is imminent.

“He’s been there, done it, and been very, very successful at Bristol City,” Caldwell said.

“I’m looking forward to him playing here. We haven’t been teammates for 10-plus years now so it’s exciting for me too now.”