All attention may well have been on Wrexham yesterday evening, but they were not alone in confirming their champion status on Saturday.
Leyton Orient clinched the League Two title after a 2-0 home win over Crewe Alexandra, ensuring second-placed Northampton Town would be unable to close the seven-point gap separating the sides.
Central to Orient's success this season has been goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux, who has kept a staggering 24 clean sheets while only conceding 29 goals in 43 league appearances this term. The 29-year-old has been voted Player of the Year by his current employers in each of the previous two campaigns and is expected to claim this accolade for a third time at the club's upcoming awards ceremony.
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Previously on the books of Liverpool between 2014 and 2016, the now 29-year-old joined the Reds from Tottenham Hotspur following a successful trial. By the end of his first season on Merseyside, opportunities arose to compete at under-21 level before an EFL loan was arranged for the following season.
After starring in a series of trial matches for Swindon Town, the then League One club were chosen as his temporary home for the 2015/16 season. One of the matches that convinced the Robins to take a chance on the Camden-born keeper was a performance that, ironically, came against Liverpool in a pre-season friendly defeat. Making his debut that day for the Reds was none other than Roberto Firmino, whose years at the club following this fixture have been filled with moments to remember.
Just one month into his loan spell at Swindon, however, and Vigouroux landed himself in trouble after paying a £50 fine with 5,000 1p pieces. This gesture was not well-received by manager Mark Cooper and resulted in the promising goalkeeper being sent back to Liverpool to explain his actions.
Reflecting on the incident following Vigouroux's return to Wiltshire, Cooper said: "Lawrence is going to come back, he is very humble and very apologetic. He knows the way he behaved was wrong and he has been in the changing room after the game and apologised to the players. He asked them if they wanted him back and they all said yes. Lawrence is an exceptional young goalkeeper and it’s important he learns from this little mishap and it will benefit his career going forward.”
Overcoming this particular incident in the end, Vigouroux was snapped up by Swindon on a three-year contract for a fee believed to be in the region of £400,000. But controversy remained a theme of his time at the club up until his eventual release at the end of the 2018/19 season, with serious questions as regards the player's attitude being raised.
Left out of the matchday squad for a League Two clash with Barnet on New Year's Day in 2018, this was deemed appropriate action after it emerged Vigouroux and one other Swindon player had gone on a night out after a victory two days prior. Earlier that season, he also received a four-match ban from the FA for comments made to match officials following a 2-1 home loss to Coventry City and failed to return to the starting eleven for a further eight games after that.
Released by Swindon at the end of the 2018/19 season, a move to Chilean side Everton de Viña del Mar followed but proved unsuccessful after being unable to make a single appearance prior to his exit in December 2019. Sharing the honesty reality of this obscure transfer move in a recent interview with talkSPORT, the ex-Liverpool Academy hopeful said: "That was a big problem that mentally I had, because I was thinking I’d get a move somewhere, and no one in the country wanted me.
“You have to learn from those [experiences], and I ended up leaving Swindon thinking I’d go somewhere else in England. I had nothing and that was a big problem that mentally I had, because I was thinking I’d get a move somewhere, and no one in the country wanted me. So then I had to end up going 15 hours away on a plane to Chile, to literally try and make a career.”
Orient were the club to take a chance on Vigouroux upon his return to England, a decision they will certainly have no regrets over. Achieving promotion to League One under the manager who released him at Swindon, Richie Wellens, has produced the perfect script for the former Liverpool man. Out of contract in the summer, it would be no surprise to see other clubs queuing up to strike a deal.
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