Many may label at is perfect tool for procrastination and for self-indulgence but I for one find Twitter a remarkable beast as it constantly springs surprises especially when it comes for football. It provides a remarkable platform for fans of football to interact not only amongst themselves but also with football journalists, bloggers and players both past and present both here and overseas. Only last week I managed to somehow crack the 1,000-follower mark and in honour of that I thought I would take the time to pick the brains of one of my more interesting followers, Peter Wilt.

Peter Wilt, for those who don’t know, was the first President and General Manager of the Chicago Fire in the MLS as well as having been the President and CEO of the Chicago Red Stars of Women’s Professional Soccer. Tom Dunmore, a fan of the Chicago Fire as well as the creator of the seminal football website Pitch Invasion, describes Wilt in glowing terms: “Peter Wilt helped pioneer the idea of a soccer team as a real club in American soccer, providing a pathway teams have followed in recent years.”

Whilst not directly involved in football at the moment, Wilt is working to assemble investor groups in a couple of US cities to buy pro soccer clubs and is in the process of pitching a book on operating pro soccer teams to publishers.  But more importantly from my point of view, he recently became a fan of Melbourne Victory, and that is in part why he follows me on Twitter.

It was a remarkable turn of events that saw Wilt become a fan of the Victory. About a year ago, Melbourne Victory fan and some time Australian FourFourTwo blogger, Matt Morris posted a link via his Twitter account to one of Wilt’s articles on Pitch Invasion. Following that not only did Wilt pick up 100s of new followers on Twitter but he also was interviewed by Craig Foster for The World Game. It seems that Wilt was somewhat of a glutton for punishment as he developed an interest in the A-League and began following the fortunes of Victory during their less than impressive Asian Champions League campaign, obviously more impressed by the passion of the Victory fans that he was following on Twitter than the play itself.  

Like many fans of European football fans here in Australia, the time difference plays havoc with Wilt’s attempts to follow the fortunes of Victory 15 hour ahead of his time zone means that he has to wake up at 3 or 4am to watch most games. He says that it is also frustrating not being able to share the passion for his newly adopted team with like-minded people at games or at the local pub. However Wilt notes that, “Modern media and technology have made it easier to follow a team across the world now than ever before, but it's still challenging. Fox Soccer in the United States is now televising an A-League game of the week and others are available online. Web sites, blogs, internet forums and Twitter are very helpful ways to follow the team.”

When it comes to Melbourne Victory players that have caught Wilt’s eye, he says, “I really respect Matt Foschini for his honesty describing the Victory's play in the recent Melbourne Derby and Ante Covic has literally saved Victory's season so far. My favourite player by far though is Marco Rojas. I love his skill and work rate. I am also a Fulham FC supporter, so Mark Schwarzer is my favorite Socceroo.” Wilt is also pretty sure Victory’s less that impressive start to the season can be turned around. “I'd be surprised if Victory doesn't figure out their attack issues and turn things around soon,” he says,  “Harry (Kewell) certainly needs to be more involved to create better scoring chances. Keeping a consistent pair of forwards up top will help as well.”

Wilt also says Melbourne Victory remind him a little of Chicago Fire, “Especially when it comes to under performing,” he jokes, but on a more serious note he says, “Like Victory, Fire were a perennial contender in their early years, but Fire missed the playoffs the last two seasons.” The former Chicago Fire CEO has no plans to see Melbourne Victory in the flesh at this stage but if they should they make it to this season’s Grand Final, Wilt will endeavour to do his best to attend in person.

So I am now hoping, as many of the Melbourne Victory fans who follow Wilt on Twitter that  Victory do indeed make the Grand Final - because we would all love to see him down here in Australia.

You can follow Neil on Twitter at @victoryinmelb if you don't do so already.