New midfielder to Chicago Fire: It's time for change
Dax McCarty sounds like the kind of player Chicago Fire fans have been begging to see here.
Saying he was "going to be myself," the new Fire midfielder was brutally honest in a conference call Tuesday and expressed great desire to help the Fire do something it hasn't done much of lately: win.
"My view of the team from the outside, as an outsider, is that the team has always been a very competitive team," said McCarty, acquired last month in a trade with the New York Red Bulls.
"I remember playing against Chicago last year and the years before and thinking it's never an easy game to play against the Fire.
"From the outside looking in - and this might sound a bit harsh, but as you guys in the media get to know me better you'll know that I kind of just speak my mind and I don't sugarcoat things - but from the outside looking in it looked like losing almost became accepted.
"And a culture of losing with this club almost became the norm, from the front office down to the players down to all the staff. It almost just seemed like they were indifferent about winning. And that's crazy. That's insane."
McCarty's diagnosis as someone entering his 12th Major League Soccer season and who has had consistent success in the league carries a lot of weight.
"There needs to be a little bit more accountability, and there needs to be accountability from the top down to say this is ridiculous.
"I think for the most part it's harder to miss the playoffs numerous years in a row than it is to make it numerous years in a row. That's crazy to me that this culture of losing has just kind of been accepted."
The Fire has played just one playoff game since 2009. In 2015 and 2016 it finished last in the 20-team league. It's possible to do even worse in 2017, considering expansion clubs in Atlanta and Minnesota make it a 22-team league.
McCarty, who joined his new teammates at training camp Monday, said he has made his feelings clear to general manager Nelson Rodriguez and coach Veljko Paunovic.
"I told them that I'm not the type of guy, I'm not the type of player that is going to be OK with being average and having another losing season," McCarty said. "I guess that's part of the reason why they're bringing me in, to try to change that culture a little bit."
So what can McCarty and other off-season additions Juninho and Nemanja Nikolic do to change that culture?
"What I can do is call on my experience," said McCarty, who was the Red Bulls' captain. "I've been on a lot of winning teams in MLS."
McCarty's Red Bulls won a Supporters Shield. They made the playoffs every season. He just spent the past few weeks at U.S. national team training camp. He knows what it takes to win in this league.
As good as he is as a central midfielder, it's his leadership his new club needs most. He talked about making "the culture in the locker room one of accountability as well as one of leadership." He talked about players doing things off the field together as well.
"This isn't a one-man effort," he said. "I'm not going to make any massive promises about I'm going to come in and I'm going to change this and I'm going to change that. I'm going to be myself. I'm going to be the player that I've always been. I'm going to be a good leader."
Fire fans will love to hear that. They'll love McCarty even more if he finally can change the club's culture.