Dear Mr. Hauptman,
Last year, I turned my “Year-in-Review” piece on the Fire into a open letter to you. The events of this past season has led me to write another open letter because there are serious issues with the club that need to be addressed and questions about your commitment to the club continue to be asked by fans who are simply tired of all the losing over the past six seasons.
To cut a long story short, the Fire ended the season with a record number of losses (20), the fewest points in one season (30), and won fewer than ten matches for the fourth time in six seasons. There were fan protestsduring the year as well. The only times you were mentioned in great significance in the Chicago Tribune were when columnist and Fire season ticket holder John Kass was blasting the club for their poor play. Indeed, at least one website has called for your ouster. It’s not us since we feel it would be more constructive to appeal to club management to listen to its fanbase and work towards building a winner on the pitch and be more solution-based in our critique of the club.
We had written an open letter to Mr. Khosla earlier in the season after the first of the two articles from Mr. Kass. We do appreciate that he went out of his way to try to bridge the disconnect between the fans and the club, but he can only do so much. In that letter, we insisted that it is you we want to hear from, and not merely through statements from the club.
Given the current state of the club and you not speaking to the press or addressed supporters for nearly two years is disconcerting. All we’ve heard from those press releases and secondhand from others is that you are “frustrated.” For many fans, in the words of WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart, ‘frustrated’ isn’t the [expletive]word for it.
There are people who say you committed and show a passion, but you have given different signals in the past in the eyes of some fans.
This was you to the Daily Herald in 2011: “It’s no secret here that we’ve tried to rebuild the club from when we bought it from the ground up, but there are some very compelling things that we’ve done.”
And then there’s this from the Editorial in 2013 which some Fire fans feel you commissioned: “The inclusive and authentic nature of our culture starts from the top down.”
That one quote alone is one that fans won’t let go of as long as the club is in the decline that it’s in on the pitch.
Then there’s calling the shots from afar in Los Angeles from 2013: “I have larger investments, but this club still takes up a disproportionate amount of my time. I let it, because I believe in what we’re doing. I like to be involved…. Everything I’ve done, every decision I’ve made has been based on what’s right for this club.”
There are some that feel you making the decisions is the problem. As a result, there have been four presidents, six coaches (going on seven), and an endlessly revolving door of players. Of course, there are some who feel you’ve been taken advantage of in the past by people you trusted, but ultimately, you are responsible for putting those people in place.
Most people have applauded the appointment of Nelson Rodriguez as general manager. He does appear to have a vision for the club on the pitch and has principles to guide himself by. All we ask is that you let him do his job. Many people feel he has a brilliant soccer mind and it would be a terrible thing to waste. We greatly anticipate who he selected to be the new head coach–your seventh since you bought the club in 2007. From there, they can work to overhaul the roster–especially in defense, recognize that Harry Shipp is best in central midfield, recognize that Matt Polster is not a right back, and find a Designated Player who will be more like David Accam and less like almost every Designated Player the club has had since Cuauhtemoc Blanco.
We do recognize the investment in and expansion off the youth academy and that’s very promising. Hopefully, future Fire players will come out of that and contribute to the rebuilding this club sorely needs. You can also talk about the PrivateBank Fire Pitch on the North Side as well. However, it’s what’s on the pitch at Toyota Park that fans want to see results. Right now, the results are awful.
That’s where you need to place faith in Nelson Rodriguez to make the right decisions in regards to the soccer operations of the club. We feel Mr. Khosla needs to do more on the business side of the operations to ensure that there is a conversation about soccer in this town about the Fire, let alone “own the soccer conversation in Chicago.” People do not want to talk about a losing team for long.
You may have noticed that there is the prospect of a Chicago team named the Sting coming in 2017. Some feel this may light a (no pun intended) spark into the Fire to build a winner since a Sting team will court fans who are nostalgic of the name, who feel the commute to Bridgeview is too much of an inconvenience, and are tired of the Fire losing. You shouldn’t wait for that to happen. Change needs to happen now.
Honestly, we don’t like to write open letters like this. We are fans of the Fire too and would like for the team to succeed. We would very much like to cover the Fire in MLS Cup one day. However, the opinion of many is that the club has regressed very badly under your watch and you have recently gone into a shell in the face of criticism. Mr. Khosla and Mr. Rodriguez can talk about how committed and passionate you are about the club, but the fans do not see it right now. All you have said over the course of last season in a press release and secondhand is that you are “frustrated.”
What we feel is anger and depression over the perception that soccer is growing most everywhere in the country except where US Soccer is headquartered–in Chicago. The Fire need to change that perception and now. After the last six seasons, frustrated isn’t the word for it.
Sincerely,
Dan Gaichas
Editor and Webmaster
Windy City Soccer
