“I remember going to Maine Road in 1964 with my dad and we got walloped six-nothing,” recalls Nigel Travis. “I think it’s the only time I’ve ever seen us play them.” The Leyton Orient chairman’s account of watching his club face Manchester City is rare among fans of the League One team – the teams have not met since a second-tier 2-2 draw in 1966. Fortunes have diverged since but Orient welcome City to east London on Saturday in upbeat mood and at something of a crossroads.
After seven and a half years of steady upward progress since Travis’s consortium took over a club in ruins after relegation to the National League, the chairman has been soliciting fresh investment. A new stadium nearby is being considered and talk has been afoot of aping their former lower division London rivals and “doing a Brentford”. The manager, Richie Wellens, has spoken of “not being ‘little Leyton Orient’ any more”.
