THE ORIENT EXPRESS
Since finding themselves a penalty-kick from promotion to the Championship in 2014, Leyton Orient fans have been squeezed through the wringer until their pips squeaked in protest. Not long after that League One playoff final defeat at the hands of Rotherham, longtime owner Barry Hearn sold his stake in the club to Italian businessman Francesco Bechetti, a transaction the snooker-loopy promoter and lifelong Orient fan would later describe as “an absolute disaster”. Despite initially hosing plenty of money at the club, Bechetti’s reign went quickly downhill, ending three seasons, 11 managers and two relegations later when the O’s dropped out of the Football League after a 112-year stay, with the club in all manner of Bechetti-induced financial chaos.
One of the very few perks of being relegated to the National League was that Bechetti was left with little option to sell up and a consortium fronted by another lifelong fan of the club, Nigel Travis, stepped into the breach. Things were finally looking up for Orient but even the good times turned unimaginably sour. A couple of months after masterminding the club’s return to the Football League after a two-year absence, tragedy struck when the club’s popular manager Justin Edinburgh died after a sudden cardiac arrest at the age of 49. “One of the fans said to me, it’s very simple, but she said that he got us and we got him,” said former Orient player Jobi McAnuff in the days after Edinburgh’s passing. “That’s one of the best ways of summing him up and his relationship with the club.”
One suspects more than a few glasses were raised in Edinburgh’s memory on Tuesday night as the players of Orient and their fans celebrated their return to the third tier of English football after a three-year stay in League Two, even if the manner of their promotion was decidedly unorthodox. Down to 10 men and losing 2-0 at Gillingham, their celebrations looked to be on hold until the weekend, when the floodlights at the Priestfield Stadium failed during the second half. But results elsewhere meant that by the time somebody had stuck a few coins in the meter and the players had returned to the pitch to play the final 10 minutes, all concerned knew Orient were up, Gillingham were safe from relegation and both sets of fans were already celebrating wildly in the dark. Before the restart, Orient players had a celebration of their own on the pitch.
“The club deserves this – a few months ago we were 20th in the league and looking over our shoulders. Now we’ve got the opportunity to flex our muscles against some real massive clubs,” said manager Richie Wellens, after the closing minutes of the game had been played courtesy of assorted Gillingham players passing the ball unopposed amongst themselves at the back, while fans of both teams olé-ed their time-wasting with commendable enthusiasm. “Even the lights tried to fail us, so whoever’s messing about with that power generator didn’t make it easy for us.” There have been far darker periods in Orient’s recent history but for now, the future is bright.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“If I hadn’t played soccer, I’d have been dead by now” – Shingo Shiozawa, 93, on representing White Bear in the newly-formed, over-80 division of Tokyo’s Soccer For Life league, which kicked off earlier this month. Former Japan international Mutsuhiko Nomura is another player involved, albeit at the more youthful age of 83. “When I was a kid, men in their 50s and 60s were considered ‘grandpas’,” he explained. “And now, we’re all still at it in our 80s. It’s shocking.”
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
I’m a Rochdale fan and have no skin in the game (as we will be exiting the Football League shortly). However, I like Leeds and dislike Everton. To which version of God should I pray? Or would this be an ecumenical matter?” – Nick Livesey.
It’s interesting to see that Didier Drogba says Chelsea now lack class and that they should go back to the principles and values they had when he was there. Presumably, he means the principles and values that saw one referee forced to retire and stewards have to pull a certain forward away from another, only for him to turn to a television camera and shout ‘Are you watching this? It’s a disgrace. It’s a [effing] disgrace’ when they didn’t get the result they wanted. To be fair though, it’s got to be a better tactic than having all your chances fall to Kai Havertz and N’Golo Kanté” – Noble Francis.
Good luck to Stranraer and their new manager (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition). I hope appointing someone who beat them 8-0 works as well for them as it did for Norwich City, after they were shellacked 7-1 at home by Colchester on the opening day of their first season in League One. Colchester’s manager was quickly snatched from them and Paul Lambert led the Canaries to two successive promotions. No pressure then, Scott Agnew” – David Branch.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Noble Francis.
MOVING THE GOALPOSTS
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