Since Kevin Payne's appointment as Toronto FC's new (and inaugural) president, in November, the former DC United executive has caused equal amounts of enthusiasm and perplexity among the fan base.

When the announcement was made, Toronto fans rejoiced: this was not just another coaching change of the kind that they had become so used to seeing. Rather, it was a complete re-working of a system that had been failing for six years.

Since the club's inception in 2007, it has gone through complete overhauls of management, playing style and formation. The team has lacked structure and consistency and has been unable to thrive. And that's just the start of it. Toronto has had eight head coaches, has failed to make a playoff spot and, worst of all, has seen a decline in fan support.

Toronto FC began the 2012 season with nine consecutive losses and went on to finish with a dismal 23 points. The average game attendance dropped from over 20,000 in previous years to just over 18,000, with the lowest recorded attendance being just under 15,000 for a September game against the Chicago Fire. The team went through two management changes. First, the former Dutch international and Ajax player Aron Winter was replaced by Paul Mariner. Winter's coaching and playing style had become too overwhelming. Under Mariner, Toronto immediately saw a turnaround, including their first win. But the euphoria would not last and 2012 ended as the worst season in the club's history.

Photograph: Rebecca Naden/PA

Fans began to object to the team's performances: a handful wore paper bags on their heads and carried signs in protest. Supporters demonstrated outside BMO and even Mariner, pictured, was said to have become embroiled in verbal altercations.

Injuries and personnel problems plagued the team: top goal-scorer Danny Koevermans fell in July, with an ACL injury, and in September the club lost captain Torsten Frings to a hip injury. Fan favourite Joao Plata left in a theatrical fashion in July, when he announced he was going on loan to Ecuador's LDU Quito, via Twitter, allegedly unbeknownst to coach Mariner.

By the end of the season, the team was burnt out. The forward Eric Hassli asked to be transferred – for "family related reasons" – and national newspaper The Globe and Mail revealed the goalkeeper Milos Kocic's experiences with the club, not all of which were positive.

The only highlights of 2012 were winning the Canadian Championship for the fourth year in a row and managing to advance to the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Champions League. However, this was not enough for the overworked and disjointed team and their exasperated fans.

Toronto FC is owned by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), which also owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors and Toronto Marlies. When MLSE brought Major League Soccer to the city, in the spring of 2007, the new team met with great enthusiasm. Toronto FC became the hottest ticket in town – at one point tickets were as hard to come by in the summer months as Maple Leafs tickets were in the winter. Season-ticket hopefuls were regulated to a waiting list, online ticket exchange prices soared and, on the odd chance a non-season-ticket holder was able to get a game ticket, it was worth its weight in gold.

Now, after half a decade of no playoffs, no titles (other than the Canadian Championship) and a lack of structure and stability have turned fair-weather fans away. The faithful remain but at the end of 2012 season a pint of beer often cost more than a re-sold ticket. Toronto FC has become the forgotten pet of MLSE; exciting and loved at first, but discarded as a nuisance when it proved to be more work than originally bargained for.

A complete restructuring of the club

Toronto FC has a passionate fanbase, despite its lack of success. Photograph: Fred Thornhill/Reuters

By giving the new president seemingly free reign, MLSE suits can wash their hands of any mistakes that may happen. If the season is a failure, Payne is their fall guy. MLSE will be able to say they took a chance on a president and it did not work out. If the season is a success, MLSE can congratulate themselves on a smart appointment.

For MLSE, this is not just another coaching appointment; it is a complete restructuring of the club's system, an experiment that has not been tried before. Payne stands to benefit. He can build his own team with free reign, with little to no expectation from the fans. Any success is good. If he fails, well, Toronto is used to it.

Payne saw the possibilities that came with Toronto and took up the challenge, and his first move was to fire the previous regime. This included releasing Mariner and the then-technical manager, Bob de Klerk, who had been brought in alongside Winter. From there, Payne began to build his own club. He started by hiring as a player-coach Ryan Nelsen, a New Zealand international and, at the time, a Premier League player for Queens Park Rangers. Nelsen had worked with Payne before, at DC United in the early 2000s. The hiring of Toronto's eighth coach was not a shock to TFC fans – what was surprising was that Payne brought in someone who had no prior coaching experience and was still tied to another club.

Nelsen was originally scheduled to join Toronto after the Premier League was finished, in May, and Toronto fans worried how the team would start the season – especially after the start they endured in 2012 – without a coach. However, earlier this month, Nelsen officially joined Toronto FC as head coach.

Payne also brought in Pat Onstad, a former Canada international, as chief scout and manager of football partnerships. Like Nelsen, Onstad had worked at DC United. It would seem the president is surrounding himself with people he knows and trusts – he has also made player changes although, much to fans' dismay, this has involved the release of several academy players and the trading of several top draft pick options in return for allocation money. No big player announcements have been made, but supporters are holding out on the hope that Payne is planning something.

Payne is, essentially, building a Frankenstein's monster of a club, piecing together parts of previous teams with which he is familiar and that he thinks he knows how to use. Like Frankenstein's monster, this team, rejected by original creator (MLSE) may be able to grow, learn, and become self sufficient; the disparate pieces may function as one. And not just function, but be productive and successful as well.

If you have read Mary Shelley's masterpiece, you will know that the monster does not behave like a monster all the time. At one point, the creature finds a role for itself in the world it has created. That could be the future of Toronto FC. Of course, having said that, those of you who have read the book – or, at least watched a film version – will also know that the monster's anger, resentment and lack of control eventually gets the better of it, leading to mayhem.

Payne's challenge will be to balance on the fine line between managing a machine of many different pieces and managing a team that cannot take the strain and eventually loses control. In the forthcoming season, we will see if Kevin Payne can control his modern Prometheus.