Joe Mansueto Sit Down Interview

Well, thank you, Megan. I'm delighted to be here. I love talking about the Fire.

Yeah, I'm very excited to bring back Georg Heitz as our sporting director and Sebastian Pelzer as our technical director to continue building on the progress we're making with the Chicago Fire. Now, I know fans are very disappointed that we did not make the playoffs. The whole organization is very disappointed, and we all feel that very personally. It was a tough one. It came down to the very last game of the season. So we did better than last year, so making progress, but we still came up short, and that's very frustrating for us. So we'll be active in the offseason to strengthen the club and be much more competitive next season. But in terms of this decision, I think it's helpful to take a step back and try and understand what we're trying to achieve as an organization. And our goal is to build a world-class soccer organization. So it's building a first-class scouting network. We've made a lot of progress over the past year. We have a scouting network that we've built up in Europe, in South America. We've added a person in Africa. So there's a scouting organization. There's a performance group. Nacho Trinia heads that up and has done a great job keeping our athletes fit and in shape. Analytics is part of it. Kevin Minkus heads that up for us. He has a staff that looks at all the data, and increasingly sports is heading in this direction. You've got to be world-class in analytics. On up to there's the academy. Some of the most serious players that we have, we brought in a new head there, Gary Lewis, who is terrific. Comes from Liverpool, Philadelphia, Seattle. He's one of the top academy directors in the country. Fire 2, we promoted Alex Boler, a really top talent, rising star within our organization, to head up Fire 2. We've made the playoffs, so it's going in a good direction. We have a lot of confidence in Alex's abilities. And then on up into the first team, and again, I think we came up a little short this year. You know, we want to strengthen the club and be much more competitive next year. And then we have a sister club out in Europe in Lugano, Switzerland. There we've made the Swiss Cup finals the last couple of years. And so I think things are heading in the right direction. I really want to continue to build on this progress, and so that's a bit of the thinking that goes into bringing back Georg and Sebastian for next year.

Well, Megan, this is a long-term project. It takes a long time to really have considerable success in these areas. So take youth development. That doesn't happen overnight. But we've had a lot of success investing in our academy. You look at our homegrown players like Brian Gutierrez, Chris Brady, Mauricio Pineda, coming from our academy and now first-team starters. Or you look at a lot of the foreign nationals who've come in, Maren Haile-Selassie from Lugano, or Federico Navarro, or Teran. We've developed these players into getting better and better. You look at Jhon Durán, who we found in South America. We sold him to Aston Villa for one of the highest transfer fees ever in Major League Soccer. Or Gaga Slonina, our goalkeeper, who we transferred to Chelsea. And again, I think this points back to the success that Georg has had, but it also speaks to your question about foundation. A lot of these things, performance and analytics, the reserve team, they just take time to build. And so I think as long as we're putting one foot ahead of the other, making progress every year, and there's a real dedication to excellence, I think over time fans will be very happy with where we're going to get to.

Yeah, we're really excited about all the preparation we're doing for 2024. So job one is to get our new head coach. Georg and Sebastian are almost through the final interviews. We're down to three candidates, and we hope to name a final soon. And once we have that coach in place, we have to get the assistants and the team around the coach in place. But also we're going to be busy in the transfer market over the season. That's already started. I think it's no secret we need a number nine, a DP striker. So that's one of the prime targets, but really want to add depth and additional starters throughout the roster. So we've already had a lot of conversations about the roster for next season, where we want to emphasize. We're looking at players. We're in discussions now. And then I think we're ready to come out strong in January when preseason starts, which is not far away, less than two months. I guarantee for the fans we'll have a stronger, more competitive club next year.

My number one message for the fans is, first of all, thank you for your support. That's a heartfelt thank you. We know the club means a lot to you. It means a lot to us. So thank you for your continued support. Then secondly, I want to acknowledge the disappointment in not making the playoffs. We all feel that. I'm active in social media, reading the comments, and I know there's disappointment about not making the playoffs. And we want to acknowledge that we hear you. But we're doubling down and working harder than ever to make sure that we're a competitive club vying for championships, not only next year but consistently year after year. And so yes, it's been disappointing, but we're going to double down, be active in the transfer market, get the right coach in place, get the right team around the coach, and come back strong for next year. So I want to thank the fans for all of their support, all of their loyalty. It means a lot not only to me but the whole organization. We feed off your energy. And so thank you for that, and we're working every day to make the Fire stronger.

No, thank you, Megan. Delighted to be here. Thank you guys for tuning in.