The Deep Dish: Generally Speaking

PREFACE:  Simply put, the Fire need to sack Georg Heitz and Sebastian Pelzer and the Ricketts Group’s first main hire should be a general manager/sporting director.

FIRE:  After the Fire’s 2-0 loss at home to Charlotte FC which leaves them needing to win and needing help to avoid missing the playoffs a sixth consecutive season, At least two fans held up “Heitz Out” signs, Section 8 was singing that Heitz was “bad at his job,” and the Barnburners have gone to Jotform leading a petition for his removal. Tom Boggert’s article in the The Athletic about the possibility of Heitz and technical director Sebastian Pelzer possibly being retained has not been taken so well by Fire fans.

A 34-56-34 record, zero playoff appearances, two failed head coaching appointments, and multiple disappointing designated players (though the jury is out on Ousmane Doumbia); should not be grounds for retention even if the Fire do manage to make the playoffs this season. Those fans who have (bless them) been here long enough to remember when they were regular contenders for MLS Cup demand that the Fire return to that level. The rosters Heitz has built have not been good enough and are nowhere near contenders for trophies.

After the win against Miami last Wednesday, interim head coach Frank Klopas said this, “You have to continue to win. We have to be a team that’s going to be in the playoffs, not just once every six or seven, eight years. I mean, this city is built on winning and the fans want to see winners.”

The fans right now are not seeing winners and while some fans who were there on Wednesday may take the Fire up on their offer on a $250 credit towards memberships in 2024, others whether they were and for the season as a whole will likely not renew if the Fire miss the playoffs, but retain Heitz and Pelzer. Indeed, it will make owner Joe Mansueto look like White Sox and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf who allows personnel to stay on way past their freshness date (read “Gar-Pax”. Hawk Harrelson, Kenny Williams, Rick Hahn, etc.).

There was a missed opportunity to hire Garth Lagerwey–MLS’s equivalent to either Jim Finks, Dave Dombrowski, or Theo Epstein–before this season. Lagerwey went to Atlanta and the Five Stripes look closer to being cup contenders this year.

Joe Mansueto needs to undertake an organizational reset with the soccer operations in 2024–playoffs or no playoffs. While he’s enjoying modest success with FC Lugano in Switzerland, the Swiss model is not working–especially when a pseudo-German model is overachieving down I-55 in St. Louis. He needs to hire people who can bring in a winning culture to the Fire–which disappeared after that fateful penalty kick by Ned Grabavoy in 2009–and change the attitude. Otherwise, the Fire will continue to see subpar crowds at Soldier Field and will be overly reliant on Leagues Cup matches vs. Liga MX sides and whenever Inter Miami with Messi (or when another team gets a superstar close to Messi’s stature) come to town.

It’s not been good enough for the last four seasons and there’s little reason to believe it will be any better if Heitz and Pelzer are retained–especially if the Fire fail to make the playoffs for the sixth straight year and 12th time in 14 years.

RED STARS:  A 6-3 loss to then-bottom side Kansas City eliminated the Red Stars from playoff contention. It’s been a brutal year for the Red Stars for myriad of reasons on and off the pitch which this page will not go into at this time. There is a glimmer of hope that the Ricketts Group will provide a much-needed infusion into the club and get it up-to-date with the rest of the NWSL. One of the first things they need to do is to hire a general manager or sporting director to run soccer operations to make some sorely-needed upgrades. It just seemed like at times the Red Stars were still on Windows 7 while the rest of the league is on Windows 11 (the same argument could be made of other sports teams in this city to be honest). (Editor’s note:  For those who have Macs, the comparison would be from Mavericks while the rest of the league just upgraded to Sonoma, but this reporter digresses.)

Obviously, the defense needs upgrades after allowed the fourth-most goals in a single season in NWSL history (47). They also need improvements in midfield and up front given that Mallory Swanson went down injured and the leading goalscorer on the club has just four goals each. Several Red Stars are free agents in 2024 such as Swanson, Casey Kreuger, Yuki Nagasato, Bianca St. Georges, Tierna Davidson, and Ella Stevens. The Red Stars need to sign some of them back. There is the matter with SeatGeek Stadium as the Red Stars have a lease with Bridgeview through 2025 and it remains to be seen whether the Ricketts Group will move them to someplace within the city, but rebuilding the roster should be the most immediate priority in addition to getting the organization up to date on the business side as well.

FINAL THOUGHT:  Chicago is the third largest market in the United States and for too long, the sports teams in this town have been run like third-rate operations. The Fire and Red Stars should not go down this path. Both have ownerships who seem ready to do what’s needed to make upgrades to the current product. However, Manuseto needs to make them on the soccer operations side and Mrs. Ricketts and her group would do well to start thinking about who should run the soccer operations the moment the final whistle sounds after Sunday’s finale against OL Reign. The city and its fans deserve winners and they are not getting them right now. There is a massive opportunity for both teams to provide that. Both the Fire and Red Stars need to take advantage of that opportunity.