Fire news 6/13/19

I wrote a 2000 word article tonight about the Fire's "issues". Hopefully will be up soon with minimal edits.

 

One sentence to much.

 

I wrote about everything.
https://mlsmultiplex.com/2019/06/13/chicago-fire-fix-nelson-rodriguez-veljko-paunovic/

 

Well written article.

A couple of points of contention:

It’s because Paunovic is caught in a system that allows this.

He is part and parcel of the "system," not "caught in a system."
Hell, essentially, he IS the system.


"Then, in 2015, new general manager Nelson Rodriguez shows up saying he will do everything differently. He hired Paunovic and instantly went to work trading away almost everyone. Somehow, after gutting the squad, a playoff team was created in 2017.

That "somehow" was spending huge money on Bastian, Nikolic, McCarty, DeLeeuw, Juninho, Kappelhoff, Bava, Meira, Alvarez, and Accam.

Sign very good players and good things should happen.
The reason the Fire did not progress in 2017 was management and coaching (and manbun, I will blame him, just because).
True that Juninho, Bava, Meira, Alvarez and Accam were all gone after the season, but Katai and a returning DeLeeuw should have help pick up the slack.

Now, in 2019, we have one of the most talented squads, from an offensive perspective in the league, but we still cannot win.
That is down to coaching.
Again, Paunovic is not "caught" in the system., he IS the system.
The 2019 failures are all down to him.

And the big concern from your article.

That problem comes from the top. Almost every single Chicago Fire hire in the past couple of decades has been done on the basis of trusting individuals who do not understand the sport, from the presidents to the coaches. After talking about how cyclical this firing wheel has been, breaking the wheel is less about being patient and more about starting over entirely and bringing in someone who actually can last.

Past couple of decades?
The Fire hires in the first decade were ALL people who understood the sport.
Peter Wilt
Bob Bradley
Dave Sarachan
Even, Guppy were all people who knew the sport and the league.
Osorio knew the sport, but not his wife's wishes. It was an inspired hire at the time and his success afterwards bears testament to that.

It is since September, 2007 that this changed. Hmm? What happened then?

The on-field management hires are all defensible (and, yes, I am going to defend potato).
Hamlett was the "safe" choice, and an understandable choice, but he simply did not seem up to the challenge, unfortunately. He was a long time MLS and Fire person.
CDLC knew the sport, but not the league.
Klopas was a good hire.
Yallop was, well, potato, but was a long time, original MLS guy and had been successful in the league.
Paunovic gonna Paunovic (but did play in MLS, at least?)
I was against the hiring of Hamlett and Yallop and was very concerned about Paunovic, but I can see the reasoning for hiring all three.

It is higher up that is the problem.
Leon is an official at Andell Holdings, LLC. He has no business being in charge of a "Major League" soccer team.
Greeley had been openly hostile to soccer and the Fire, while with the Bears.
Posada was a newspaper guy.
John Urban is a waste of the 9 nine letters that make up his name.
Rodriguez is the true anomaly. He is a long time (though NEVER successful) MLS and USSoccer person, but was 1) the worst hire ever or 2) thrust upon the Fire by MLS.

I think your statement "past couple of decades" is incorrect and diminishes the great work of the first decade.

Overall, another thoughtful article, young man.

 

I think I did the math in my head wrong when I wrote that. It was late.
Absolutely massive mistake that I should probably get changed, but I meant "going back to 2009", so that would just be one decade.

 

It just feels like decades. Take it from an old guy.