For those that may not know, I am a die-hard Orlando City supporter. My love for the team started as a way to express and celebrate the city I love. Through my time supporting the club, I've met hundreds of amazing people just like me who are as crazy about the team and the city as I am. People from all different walks of life, with different backgrounds, coming together for one common goal: to go hard in the terraces for 90 minutes.

What also comes with all those different voices in one place is differing opinions. About everything from the team to current events. People think "Player A" is great, others think he's slow and lazy. People think the coach is helping us and we should be patient, others are calling for his head after the season. Republicans, Democrats, and everything in between. This leads to some very....lively...conversations at times.

But one thing I feel we can all agree on is this; it's all about passion. If a player brings passion to the pitch and shows that he's willing to leave it all out there each game, he'll find no better friends than the supporters on the wall. Adversely, if a player doesn't show that passion to the supporters, or does something incredibly self-centered that would spurn the club (like pretending you don't know what a "team option" is and running off to Turkey), we would not respond very kindly. It all comes down to passion. And there was one person who worked for the club that personified passion better than any one.

10 years ago this next month, Adrian Heath was brought on as manager of the Austin Aztecs after meeting with owner Phil Rawlins over a pint in a pub back home in England. In 2010, Heath and Rawlins relocated the team to Orlando joining the USL pro league. They wanted and believed that Orlando could be the great United States soccer city. They saw the passion that the city was brimming with, and felt it could be channeled into soccer.

While in USL, Orlando City won two championships, and grew a small but powerful supporter base. Heath was personable and passionate, always taking the time to talk to folks after games, and always lively on the sidelines. In 2015, Orlando City was granted a expansion bid to join the MLS, a huge accomplishment for the club. The team and supporters was proud that the club was "built, not bought", meaning the the club had history and moved up the ranks of professional soccer in the United States unlike clubs like NYCFC and Atlanta United, who were created solely for MLS and had no history. And are the worst.

Unfortunately, things didn't go great for Heath. He took part in some questionable personnel choices, with money being spent on players who ultimately never contributed anything of substance to the club. The club narrowly missed the playoffs in its first year and started their second season in worst shape. Heath made some questionable decisions in-game as well, often not subbing players on in games that the club was losing until it was too late. These and other issues led to Heaths's abrupt dismissal in July of 2016.

Now, people can argue all day about whether the dismissal was deserved. I think to me personally, it was something I was surprised about, but not terribly shocked. What did shock me though, how TERRIBLY the club handled the dismissal of someone who was so critical to getting them success early and had the vision with Phil Rawlins to bring the team to Orlando. He was a face in the community, doing a radio show live downtown once a week. For him to be fired, on a random Wednesday evening with no press conference, or tributes, or fanfare of any kind was simply not right.

Again, being a supporter is about passion. It's about giving everything you got every time you step in that stadium. And win, lose or draw, Adrian Heath gave you that. It wasn't always pretty. But when it was, it was beautiful. And honestly, when it didn't work it could still be great. Any supporter worth their weight in Fireball can recall the game in 2015 against the Red Bulls where Heath was tossed from the game for arguing with the officials. One of my favorite Orlando City memories was Heath walking towards the tunnel, pumping his fists at the supporters urging us to keep fighting. Or when he took the stage in 2015 when the MLS announced that Orlando City had won the expansion bid. Or another personal favorite, when Heath "accidentally" called NYCFC "Man City" in a press conference.

He was passionate, wore his heart on his sleeve. I know that people tend to romanticize players when they leave the club. Even if they really didn't contribute anything. When Rafael Ramos recently was traded to the Chicago Fire, it marked the end of an era for the club, as the last player signed during the USL days was gone (unless you count Dom Dwyer, who came back during our MLS run). It wasn't because Ramos was a great player for us recently, injuries and short-tempered kept that from happening. It was because of other reasons. For some, it was a reminder that a time where the club felt like a friend and not a big corporate juggernaut was long gone. For others, it was the last fleeting glimpse of a time where Orlando City and brought home hardware to match our passion in the terraces.

And that's why I feel that when Heath returns to Orlando City Stadium when the team he now manages, Minnesota FC, plays our Lions, he should get a hero's welcome. Not because he was fired for the wrong reasons. But because no one represented the supporter better. No one understood the passion better. I would rather be on The Wall with my brothers and sisters singing and jumping as my team lost than sitting in a seat quietly watching a team dominate.

Orlando is a city of expression. It's a city of passion. No matter the cost. Adrian Heath knew that, and that's why he believed in it so much. We owe him for that.