The Chicago Fire starting 11against the LA Galaxy at the Stub Hub Center in Carson, Calif. on March 6, 2015.
Prior to Sunday’s match, new Fire general manager Nelson Rodriguez met the media for the first time. Rodriguez said that he wanted to run a club in this capacity after years within the league office and with US Soccer.
“This job is a dream for me,” said Rodriguez. “I have always yearned for wanted this opportunity to run a team and a club sporting operation. This is the first time it’s been given to me, and I appreciate [owner Andrew Hauptman’s trust]in allowing me to fulfill a dream.”
Rodriguez has said that he has received a warm reception from the fans from his time so far in the city even displaying a scarf from Sector Latino. He also expressed his passion to do his best for club and city.
“I vow to give my best to this city, to this soccer club. I have found in my career that losing teams and winning teams all have the same mentality. The difference is that winning teams find an excuse to win. That is one of the first things that we need to work on here with the Fire. We need to have excuses to win.”
Rodriguez has expressed a vision where the Fire is the premier club in Major League Soccer, to win championships, serve the community and “being a good neighbor,” and earning profits. The core values that Rodriguez plans to measure on a daily basis are competitiveness seeking to win “at all times, though not at all costs” emphasizing professionalism, leadership, accountability, and responsibility.
From there, Rodriguez mentioned three guiding principles–Do the right things, Do things right, and Always give 100%. A couple of common themes during his speech were the need to be competitive at all times and a relentless pursuit for excellence.
The first priority is to find a new head coach which Rodriguez hopes to have aboard before Thanksgiving. He mentioned that it wouldn’t be appropriate to mention names citing unfairness to the candidates and the process at this point and there is a “nearly overwhelming” number of solicitations for the job. He did emphasize the candidate have a familiarity with Major League Soccer and the “ability to teach”. From there, the coach will make the roster decisions with Rodriguez.
As for a technical director, Rodriguez does see a situation where that function within the organizational structure could work such as integration of the first team with the youth clubs and the academy, but nothing is absolute. The head coach should not be “the czar of soccer.” The focus should be three points on the weekends which is a likely reference to Frank Yallop being director of soccer operations in addition to being a head coach.
Asked about a possible USL team vs. affiliation with another team like Saint Louis FC, Rodriguez believes that there is more than one model that can be successful. That said, Rodriguez expressed his desire to be ahead of the game when it comes to things, so things could evolve over time.
THOUGHTS: Winston Churchill once said, “A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity, while an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.” Clearly, Mr. Rodriguez falls in the latter and sounds like a person who has a vision for the club and backed by principles on how to apply that vision.
It is also apparent that owner Andrew Hauptman values his judgement when it comes to soccer. It should follow that Mr. Hauptman needs to allow Mr. Rodriguez to do his job as the former has been accused of being a meddling owner.
A lot of people have said a lot of great things about Nelson Rodriguez and Sunday was the first chance to meet the man for many of us in the media. He definitely appears to have a vision and a plan for the club–something that many have accused the club of lacking in recent years. Hopefully, Mr. Rodriguez will fill that void. We all anticipate who he hires as head coach. That is the first test of many to come
