Reports: Gutierrez, Eskandarian No Longer With The Union

The exodus from the Philadelphia Union's front office and technical staff has continued, despite former head coach Peter Nowak leaving almost two weeks ago.

Diego Gutierrez, a former teammate of Nowak's with the Chicago Fire, and Alecko Eskandarian, a former player under Nowak during the early 2000s at D.C. United, both have left the Union, according to a report by the Philly Soccer Page, confirmed by both the Delaware County Times and a Union spokesperson.

The Brotherly Game was informed that a successor to Gutierrez could be named as early as today.

The Major League Soccer transfer window opened on June 27, making the departure of Gutierrez, who was Sporting Director and head scout previous to his title promotion, untimely. Gutierrez had just helped the Union acquire Bakary Soumare, one of the Colombian's former teammates on the Fire.

Under Gutierrez's watch, the Union brought in multiple players from Colombia and other parts of Latin America, where the former MLS star's contacts and scouting base was located. Players directly linked to Gutierrez include current captain Carlos Valdes, creative midfielder Roger Torres - who Gutierrez found on vacation prior to joining the Union officially - and former Costa Rican international striker Josue Martinez.

Eskandarian was named as the team's Youth Technical Director in May 2011 and under his watch the Union signed two Home Grown Players - Cristhian Hernandez and Jimmy McLaughlin - and had multiple team youth sides perform well during the US Soccer Development Academy regular season.

However, the move most likely happened because of Eskandarian's close relationship with Nowak and the fact that most of the Union's affiliate academy teams performed disappointingly in this year's USSDA playoffs.

A conference call with members of the Union media was scheduled for today, presumably to discuss, in part, the technical staff and front office personnel moves.