The Daily Southtown’s Nick Firchau reports that former Chicago Fire president and GM Peter Wilt will meet with team owner Andrew Hauptman in the coming weeks about possible replacements for the deposed John Guppy, who was fired as GM late last week. The question Wilt wouldn’t answer is whether he was meeting as a consultant or a potential candidate.
Wilt served as Fire GM from 1997 until 2005, when Anschutz Entertainment Group, the club’s former owner, controversially removed him. Since then, Wilt has remained active in soccer, most notably lobbying for an MLS franchise in Milwaukee and working for a Chicago franchise in the new women’s professional soccer league. “Whoever fills the position — it’s important to understand that the team was built on respect and the idea of doing all the little things right,” Wilt said. “And that comes down to leadership. [Chicago is] my hometown soccer team, and I’ve put a lot of my life into it. I look forward to meeting with [Hauptman] to share my opinions on how to move the team forward.”
In the interim, Javier Leon, the managing director for Andell Sports Group, is serving as caretaker-president, and Firchau says it’s also possible that Hauptman will decide to hand the fulltime job over to Leon, the former Chivas USA executive.