CHICAGO - Voices of acclaim reached to the heavens as perennial leach and know-nothing owner Andrew Hauptman finally sold his share of the franchise rights of the Chicago Fire to someone else.
(Benjamin Ordaz/Hoy)
Andrew Hauptman leaves the Chicago Fire with a sterling resume of taking one of the best teams and fanbases in Major League Soccer and running them both into the ground.
During his 12 year reign as owner of the Chicago Fire, the team failed to win any competition and did not qualify for the Major League Soccer playoffs 7 of the 12 years. As well, the Fire did not qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League at any time.
The Fire finished dead last in the Eastern Conference three times and finished dead last in the league twice.
Prior to the takeover by Hauptman the Fire won MLS Cup once in 1998 and won the US Open Cup four times with the last time being the year before Hauptman assumed control of the team.
His presence will be mourned by virtually no Fire fan as the team repeatedly antagonized the fanbase of the Fire while producing very few moments of true excitement on the field. Going so far as to ban individual fans and supporters groups as well as encouraging the league to deny them supporters group privileges even during away games, Hauptman frequently antagonized the most passionate and only remaining fans that the Fire had left.
In 2013, with the team coming off two straight seasons towards the bottom of the east where they didn’t qualify for the playoffs, the Fire through their Communications Director posted, “The Editorial,” castigating their own fans. The Editorial was so bad that even now it’s been locked and made unavailable for the sake of posterity.
No one should miss Andrew Hauptman and the totality of soccer in Chicago is immediately better for him being gone.
The Nutmeg News will have no more on him, congratulations Chicago.