Vancouver Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi admits the team's lack of consistency this season prompted the decision to sack head coach Martin Rennie.
The Canadian club finished seventh in the Western Conference following a late season slip up of just four wins from 15 matches which in the end was enough for Lenarduzzi to make the call on the Scottish tactician.
"Ultimately, the rationale behind the decision is the inconsistency," Lenarduzzi said.
"If we look back over the two years, we had two relatively good starts, and in each of those seasons we seemed to tail off.
"In the first year we were able to survive that and make the playoffs, but in the second year we weren't able to do so."
He added: "There's a fine line between success and, what would be deemed to be failure, and we just need to give ourselves the best chance possible to be on the right side of that.
"Over the last two years we felt that that's perhaps the biggest problem we've had.
"Making the playoffs, winning the (Canadian championship) are benchmarks for us. We haven't been able to achieve that."
