Independent Leyton Orient Forum

Constanza wrote: ↑Thu Jul 04, 2019 11:01 am £20 for salad!
That's just the tip of the iceberg.'

Lucky7 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:15 pm One of the issues with making salad is bland lettuce. It’s a problem that needs addressing.

Lucky7 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 17, 2019 3:15 pm Don’t think I want to spend £20 on coaches
There called Anderson’s Travel and they look comfy what else do I need to know

Bottomley’s Ghost wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 10:03 pm Anyone go? Or know how many did?

Smendrick Feaselberg wrote: ↑Tue Jul 02, 2019 7:41 pm

ComeOnYouOs wrote: ↑Tue Jul 02, 2019 1:22 pm This type of thing was exactly what i meant in my old thread when i said i wasnt happy with certain aspects of how the club was being run, which incidentally, i got slagged off big time by a few on here.

Since then, until now I havent made any more such comments, but now a few more are basically saying what i was saying 6 /7 months ago.

I can understand the club wanting to make as much money as they can to mitigate the inevitable losses, but it seemed then, as it still does, they are using the loyalty of the fans to excess....we are like whores who can be milked whenever the club wants. ( sorry about the mixed metaphors)

There is a balance, and i think the club needs to realise that

You didn't say anything of the sort in that thread. You were moaning about the footballing side of the club not being up to scratch and you were rightly picked up on this.

I am going to try to explain why I think the club isnt being run that well, in a more detailed way
I still dont expect many of you will agree…….it seems my mind works in a different way to most on here.

When Travis & Teague took over , 13 months ago, they were hailed as our saviours, by me as well as everyone else. For three months after, my avatar on here was a picture of Travis, with ‘My Hero’ written on it, but gradually, I feel the direction the club is going, is not one I’m in full agreement with.

Ok lets go back to June 2017. The club was on its last knees, and finally the rumoured takeover happened, and our club was saved. We were all delighted, that a phoenix club would be averted, and our club was rescued.

My first “ whoa hang on a minute” moment came very soon, when Martin Ling was announced as Director of Football. This was for two reasons…..First, was this the same Martin Ling, that had been sacked 8 years earlier By Barry Hearn, and second, because I have never been a fan of the DoF role in football, particularly lower league, or in our case non-league football.
At the time Ling was appointed, we didnt have a manager, or Head Coach, as the owners seemed to want to call the roll. This was going to be the man who would pick the team, and take training everyday.

Ling then brought at least four players to the club, off his own back, before a Head coach was finally appointed…….& Lings appointee, Steve Davis, turned out to be a very poor appointment, which cost the owners/club, many thousands of pounds, to pay up his contract, when he was sacked a few months later

I truly believe, appointing Ling was a bad move football wise, but the reason I believe he ws appointed only had a little to do with football…..I will explain that more fully, a bit later on.


The players signed in 2017, were in the main extremely poor. There were a few exceptions to this, particularly Bonne, and to a degree McAnnuf, who eventually turned out a good player, and captain, but as I say most were poor. Some might say there were mitigating reasons, such as the time ( End of June), when we had to take what was left, but my opinion is, we got what we got, because Ling isnt a very good judge of a good player

I should have said, right at the top, as far as I’m concerned, the one and only aim, should have been to get Leyton Orient FC back in the EFL, as soon as possible…….everything else pales into insignificance IMO.
This is a football club, that had been a League club since 1905, uninterrupted, and getting us back there was absolute priority, or should have been, but I dont believe it was, or is.
The players a club signs, give the fans a big clue, as to the size of their ambitions, and our club has shown no ambition as far as im concerned.
Two signings this summer…...one a crock, who was bought injured ( remember Mezague from the Italians tenure), and the other a reject from Tranmere, who was the fans most hated player, because according to them, he is useless. It remains to be seen, if the crock can come good, and if the fans at Tranmere were wrong…...but the ambitions of the club look poor to me, when one looks at the players our rivals are signing. Salford, Ebbsfleet & Fylde ARE ambitious clubs, and its easy to see the difference between them and us.
This is why I am saying , getting out of this league is not the priority it shoud be, in the eyes of our owners……..so what is?

This is the crux of the matter. I believe the priority is to have this club, that is part social club , part football club. Where everyone is made welcome in a friendly atmosphere, where the Chief investor , rings up people, to show he is a friendly welcoming guy, where he stands with the fans at matches, to show hes a man of the people, where he poses for a plethora of photos with the fans…...all promoting the idea of this friendly social club…….its almost as if the football is a side issue. There’s nothing wrong with all of this, if the stuff on thee pitch was being taken care of properly……...but it patently isnt, and never will with a football pygmy like Ling in charge of every player that comes in. Edinburgh has almost no say in players coming in…...Ling is head honcho, and he decides at the end of the day.

Remember early in this post, I said I would get to the rason Ling was hired…..and it obviously isnt football knowledge…….its because he gives off the right image…….this friendly family image. Ex player & manager, loves the club etc etc.
The bit that matters IMO, on the pitch, isnt so important to the owners as this family, friendly club, and the atmosphere it creates.
As a club gets up the leagues, the costs to the owners go up. Wages are higher in League 1, than in National League, but at Orient the gates wouldnt improve much…...we were getting much the same crowd now as we did in league 1, so maybe the owners have thought they dont want the extra expense…...who knows, but I do know, the ambition to bust a gut to get back in the league isnt there.

Salford, Ebbsfleet, probably aren’t as friendly clubs as Orient. The owners dont phone up the punters like our owners do, but they will both be playing League football, a lot sooner than we do, thats for sure. They really WANT to get out of this league.

I genuinely think we will become the new Wrexham, who are about to start their thirteenth season as a National League club, since being relegated all those years ago.
I have only touched on this, but this post is the longest Ive ever written, and its time to stop now.
Ive loved this club a lot longer than the vast majority of you on here ( not all of you in know that)

Fifty Two years of life supporting this club, and I really want to see it back in the league before I die

Smendrick Feaselberg wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2019 7:37 am Just think of the wasted lasagne and salad.

Byways1 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2019 8:06 am

Smendrick Feaselberg wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2019 7:37 am Just think of the wasted lasagne and salad.

The club obviously thought it was a good idea, but people are not mugs and £20 is not good value.
Much better to hold these events in the SC with free entry and a load of beer supped.
Do it on a Thursday night and the superb cask bitter will keep for Saturday.