Low pay keeps Chicago without a coach

After a month without a coach, the Chicago Fire finally had their man, they just were not willing to offer him enough money to stay.

John Spencer (the MLS one, not the Blues Explosion one) sat down with team officials to negotiate a contract, but found their terms just not enough to move him and his family from Houston.

"(Tuesday) I got offered the job in Chicago, accepted it and sat down to try and negotiate a contract, but we couldn't come to terms,'' Spencer said. "It wasn't much more money than I (was making) here with the Dynamo, and I felt that to move my family to another state and all the upheaval and such, I just didn't think it was worth it, so I turned it down.''

I'm sure part of reason for this is Spencer's lack of head coach experience, but to make an offer that is only a bit more then what he is making as an assistant is powerfully weak.

So it looks like Chicago has landed in the sticking situation of doing a forced hire for their next coach. Denis Hamlett might end up doing something great, but the fact that management has twice passed him over for the position (first last summer before they hired Juan Carlos Osorio and now) doesn't really build the confidence level.