“It’s been the best start to a season I’ve ever had in my career, I reckon” says George Moncur, and, objectively, that seems a pretty safe bet.
No team in the history of England’s fourth tier have ever made a better one than Leyton Orient, who have won nine of their first 10 matches in League Two, drawing the other.
It had been a blistering statement of intent — already, the Os have a seven-point cushion in the automatic promotion spots — and a relatively unexpected one, when you consider that manager Richie Wellens told Standard Sport in July that he feared some momentum had been lost over the summer after a fine end to last season.
It is fair to say that momentum has been rebuilt and then some, starting on the opening day, when Moncur, on debut following a free transfer from Hull, opened the scoring in a 2-0 win over Grimsby. In the process, the midfielder became the first Orient player to score from the penalty spot in a League game for a ridiculous 921 days — though for a brief period it looked as if he had also been infected by whatever malady had been coursing through Brisbane Road.
“In pre-season, I actually missed one against West Brom!” Moncur laughs. “It was funny because then I won that penalty on the first day and I just knew I was going to take it.”
The 29-year-old is not referring to some gut feeling or hunch. As a devout Christian (“a massive, massive Christian”, he says, in parlance that is pleasingly football), his belief is in a higher power.
“I bring Jesus into it because I believe he breaks chains, he breaks curses and there was definitely a curse around that penalty spot at Orient,” he explains. “For me to step up and score, I give God all the glory for that because I believe he broke a curse there.”
Moncur has long been outspoken about the strength of his faith, but has usually found himself “a lone ranger” at previous clubs. That is not the case at Orient, where a group of around seven players take part in a Friday prayer group and some team-mates even join him to pray on the pitch ahead of matches.
“They are not necessarily Christians — and it’s very hard to explain — but I think they see the spirit of God that’s working within the place,” he says. “They must believe to some extent because they like me to pray for them before a game.
“I’ve never had that ever in my career. It’s the best club I’ve been at in terms of where I feel settled, that God’s put me in the right place and he’s working wonders in the team.”
It is a team full of “technically gifted” players, who Moncur believes “could easily play at a higher level” and the way they have started the campaign has led to a reimagining of what might be possible this season, though promotion was always the ultimate aim.
“I’ve been in it before,” says Moncur, who was part of the Luton side that won promotion to the Championship in 2019. “And I know the feeling. It’s definitely the same kind of feeling around the club.”
Having been released by Hull, Moncur had “three or four options” in League One but chose Orient because it “just felt right” and crucially allowed him to bring his young family back to Essex, where his parents — including father and former West Ham player John Moncur — still live.
Moncur’s belief that there is a path already mapped out for him makes it easier to go with flow and feeling, where other players might have “shunted off” a move down the divisions.
“There are a lot of Christians in the sport but they’re nowhere near as upfront with it as I am,” he says. “I’m not judging them, I’m not judging anyone, I’m just saying that I believe in God and I believe he had this path for me.
“I went to Hull, I didn’t really play, but if I didn’t go to Hull, I might never have got the move back home here. That’s the way I look at things.”
If dad was always praising me I’d take my foot off the gas a bit - it’s nice for him to hammer me, in a way.
Moncur Snr, something of a cult hero at West Ham, remains simultaneously his son’s biggest supporter and sternest critic.
“It’s always helped me. He’s never happy with me, even if I play well or score and I see that as a compliment because I know he’s played at the highest level,” Moncur Jnr says. “That’s the best way for me because if he was always praising me I’d take my foot off the gas a bit. It’s nice for him to hammer me in a way, keeps me on my toes”.
Another significant figure in the life of the young Moncur was Harry Kane, a team-mate and close friend in the Tottenham youth ranks. Into adulthood, the pair played golf together on Sundays, before the demands of family, football and Moncur’s move to Barnsley saw them gradually drift apart, though they are still in contact.
We speak on the morning after Kane has taken his England goal tally to 51, rifling a stunning penalty past German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen at Wembley. Moncur was taking notes, looking for any way to keep rolling the Orient streak he started.
“Maybe I’ll see if I can put one in the top corner like that on Saturday!”
