Fire's Nelson Rodriguez gains support from peers

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The Fire's MLS-worst 8-20-6 record in 2015 spurred plenty of change within the organization.

The club's biggest move to date came two months ago when it hired Nelson Rodriguez as general manager. And while he's yet to hire a replacement for Frank Yallop, he recently received vocal support from two of Chicago's former presidents.

John Guppy, the club's president from 2005 to 2008, expressed the importance of hiring the right person to manage the roster.

"Half the job has already been done by hiring a competent general manager. Nelson Rodriguez is organized, respected, hardworking, well connected and has experience in several areas important to his current position," Guppy told MLSSoccer.com's Shane Murray. "He needs to execute well in a couple of key areas that he doesn't have much experience; hiring the right head coach, recruiting the right international players and acquiring domestic players that the coach can build into a team."

[NBC SHOP: Gear up, Fire fans!]

Peter Wilt, whoa acted as general manager from 1997 to 2005 and was the president for four seasons before Guppy, said the Fire aren't too far away from contending again, something they didn't do in recording 30 points this past season.

"Like the NFL, the salary cap and other mechanisms that force parity make MLS a difficult league to maintain success over long periods of time. For the same reason, it's a difficult league to stay at the bottom for long as well," Wilt told Murray.

Read CSN's Danny Michallik's profile on the 'detail-oriented' Rodriguez and what can be expected from him as he looks to turn things around at Toyota Park.

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