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Yesterday, Orlando City SC announced they had parted company with General Manager of Soccer Operations Niki Budalic with immediate effect.
Originally appointed into the position of Assistant General Manager in January 2016, the much-maligned Ontario native is departing Central Florida following Orlando City SC‘s worst Major League Soccer campaign to date.
Responsible for building Orlando City SC‘s current roster, Niki Budalic oversaw the arrival of Yoshimar Yotún as well as the record July 2017 trade for Dom Dwyer and January 2018 trade for Sacha Kljestan.
Also overseeing Orlando City SC‘s busiest off-season transfer activity to date at the start of 2018 – business that was at the time critically acclaimed – Niki Budalic has now paid the price for the Lions failing to reach the MLS Cup Playoffs in four attempts, three of those under his watch.
With Lions supporters heading into 2018 with huge hopes only to see them dashed in the most arduous way possible following a quite terrible run of just TWO victories from our last 25 games, this run included a desperate nine-game losing streak between May and July.
Many supporters have been crying out for greater accountability in the Orlando City SC Front Office for quite some time and Niki Budalic’s exit is the first concrete piece of evidence towards the club appeasing fans heading into 2019.
With patience at an all-time low among City supporters, Orlando City SC must absolutely make the right call when hiring Niki Budalic’s replacement, a search that is expected to be swift as reported by the Orlando Sentinel’s Jordan Culver yesterday.
Culver also confirmed that the Lions’ new General Manager will oversee Orlando Pride in addition to Orlando City SC.
Following yesterday’s news, Orlando City UK gathered the best tweets as the Orlando City SC Twittersphere reacted to Niki Budalic’s exit.
But before that, there were some rather interesting likes on Orlando City SC‘s official Instagram post that broke the news yesterday including the likes of Cyle Larin, Seb Hines and Stéfano Pinho.
After the Will Johnson fiasco I can only say… pic.twitter.com/9hvSqvpp0e
— Chris (@OrlandoCountySC) November 26, 2018
Wishing Niki the best in his future endeavors, but this needed to happen. Let’s see who is the replacement…
— Chris (@Apollokid) November 26, 2018
Just off the phone with an Orlando spokesperson. Notes:
-Budalic will be replaced
-No timeline for hiring replacement; looking to do as soon as possible
-Budalic worked w/ James O’Connor on roster decisions
-No official word on why move was made now and not at end of season— Sam Stejskal (@samstejskal) November 26, 2018
I want Ali Curtis.
— steve19 (@steveflarmature) November 26, 2018
I’m so excited but nervous. pic.twitter.com/BHrd7u01Ru
— Tony Cruz (@EddieTheCommish) November 26, 2018
— Andrew🐝 (@JustAndrewNow) November 26, 2018
Orlando City notes, confirmed by club:
-The club is expecting to move quickly to replace Budalić
-Roster option decisions will be announced today, those decisions were made by Budalić and O’Connor
-New GM will oversee Pride and City— Jordan Culver (@JordanCulver) November 26, 2018
Two seasons too late , finally. Hopefully this club can make positive strides… since the only place from here is “Up” at this time.👏🏼👏🏼👍🏼
— Jose Gordillo (@gordillo_jo) November 26, 2018
While firing Budalic is a positive step it will all be for naught if we don’t make a proper hire to turn this front office around and change it’s culture.
— Chris (@OrlandoCountySC) November 26, 2018
People gon be happy about this, but no one can deny the players this dude and JK brought in a year ago were AMAZING for us at the time. The fact that all but like one of them didn’t pan out has nothing to do with Niki.
— LettucePlate (@LettucePlate) November 26, 2018
it was time, big decision upcoming tho, HAVE to get this hire right!
— Big Deal (@BazTastic77) November 26, 2018
I wish him the best but it needed to happen. I am all for winning at all cost! I am battle hardened at this point, I don’t need hashtags or cute inspirational tweets, burn it all down! Let’s go back to what we used to do best.. win games! pic.twitter.com/IMB5fhO3Ka
— David Valentin 🇵🇷😈🦁⚽️ (@dvorlando) November 26, 2018
Niki Budalic deleting all of Orlando’s contract decisions after getting his walking papers. pic.twitter.com/odOP2hvBfn
— Jason Davis, The ⚽📻 Maker (@davisjsn) November 27, 2018