Chicago Fire trades young midfielder Shipp to Montreal

You've got to hand it to new Chicago Fire general manager Nelson Rodriguez and first-year coach Veljko Paunovic. They're not afraid to take a chance, even if it means putting a bull's-eye on their backs.

Saturday's trade of 24-year-old, third-year midfielder Harry Shipp, to Montreal for targeted and general allocation money, made that perfectly clear. They took a big risk to trade one of the club's most popular remaining players, the most talented homegrown player from Lake Forest the club has produced so far, a player who had been expected to be a team leader this year.

Even when the roster is already so thin, as well as young and inexperienced, they dealt the club's second most senior player and didn't get a player in return, at least not directly.

They knew Fire fans would be mad about the trade and did it anyway.

"Pauno and I met with Harry on Saturday to give him the news," Rodríguez said in a statement the club released. "Harry is a homegrown player and an obvious fan favorite, which makes this trade more emotional than most. However, we believe this trade will prove to be beneficial for our club and for Harry's career."

Of course Frank Yallop, the Fire's former coach and director of soccer, also wasn't afraid to make a move like this. There was a revolving door on the roster during Yallop's nearly two years with the Fire. Rodriguez and Paunovic are confident they will get this right where Yallop couldn't.

In order to make this work, Rodriguez will need to take the gobs of allocation money the club has and use it to acquire an international central midfielder who can be a star.

Rodriguez not only has bushels of funny money, he has a DP slot and international roster slots to use, plus room under the salary cap.

He has all he needs to produce a playoff team.

And as if six disappointing seasons aren't enough to put pressure on Rodriguez and Paunovic to produce a winning team sooner rather than later, disaffected fans already are starting to defect to a lower-division club that doesn't yet have a name or home stadium.

Former Fire GM Peter Wilt, who helped start the Fire, now is working to start a NASL club in Chicago. Wilt will host an informational meeting for fans Monday night at The Globe Pub on the city's north side.

The heat is on. And it seems Rodriguez and Paunovic aren't going to shy away from it.

• Follow Orrin on Twitter @Orrin_Schwarz.