Independent Leyton Orient Forum

Anyone else find it soulless in a dreary part of town last night? Is Brentford even in London wth its Twickers post code? Dreary old PL

Don't suppose a tie against us is very exciting for them

Bit unfair, I was listening to the audio broadcast and it sounded to me like they definitely played James Brown at HT

Absolutely agreed (and with no envy).

That was awful. I walked from Acton Town and then back after the match and the whole area is soulless. Just dual carriageways, light industry, superstores surrounded by flyovers and overpriced battery cage new build flats.

No boozers or football feel to the area. The stadium was just as bad.

It feels they’re sacrificed capacity in the name of ‘style’ to have a quirky set of stands, which, to me, look odd. Perhaps there were limitations with the plot and bridge but I think it could be bigger. I’m sure they’d fill it.

The atmosphere, admittedly playing third division upstarts and not near capacity, was flat, and the whole experience sterile. I did not enjoy my visit.

I hope Orient never end up with anything like this. The move has to be near London life, not just a motorway out of it. A huge part of the clubs identity would disappear if it moved into a sanitised bowl in the middle of wherever.

As new build grounds go, it's fine. Has standing, retains noise well, can actually get served a drink. Area around the ground is stereotypical redeveloped modern London, a dive of an area pretending to be upmarket.

Were we ever to move, suspect it'll be a similar sort of set up for us, a stadium fit in between bland unaffordable housing towers 'value engineered' to f*ck.

Leyton as an area has been transformed so much for the better in the last 20 years....

It was dreadful and bland. Griffin Park so much better

I'd be happy for Orient to move in to a stadium like Brentford's . It's the supporters that creates the atmosphere ,not the stadium .

As new stadia go, it's alright. Standing, great acoustics - can barely remember a noise as loud as when we scored. Area around it is terrible though.

Very few choices of food in the away section bar and in the upstairs part there was nowhere to put your beer down, ie no tables or chairs……….just a concrete space really.
I thought our fans created a good atmosphere though

Lifelongfan wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2024 8:45 am Anyone else find it soulless in a dreary part of town last night? Is Brentford even in London wth its Twickers post code? Dreary old PL

At least they have one.

Monkey Boy wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2024 9:43 am

Lifelongfan wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2024 8:45 am Anyone else find it soulless in a dreary part of town last night? Is Brentford even in London wth its Twickers post code? Dreary old PL

At least they have one.

it is poor imo

aylesburyos wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2024 9:45 am

Monkey Boy wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2024 9:43 am

Lifelongfan wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2024 8:45 am Anyone else find it soulless in a dreary part of town last night? Is Brentford even in London wth its Twickers post code? Dreary old PL

At least they have one.

it is poor imo

Poor or not ayles they have shown what a relatively small club can achieve if you put your mind to it and so have Brighton who were all in the same place as us 15/20 years ago

Monkey Boy wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2024 9:50 am

aylesburyos wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2024 9:45 am

Monkey Boy wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2024 9:43 am

At least they have one.

it is poor imo

Poor or not ayles they have shown what a relatively small club can achieve if you put your mind to it and so have Brighton who were all in the same place as us 15/20 years ago

Billionaires such as Benham & Bloom is the reason

aylesburyos wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2024 9:53 am

Monkey Boy wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2024 9:50 am

aylesburyos wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2024 9:45 am

it is poor imo

Poor or not ayles they have shown what a relatively small club can achieve if you put your mind to it and so have Brighton who were all in the same place as us 15/20 years ago

Billionaires such as Benham & Bloom is the reason

Not going to argue with that unfortunately we chose Barry big bollocks and we are stuck with him

Brentford's owner has basically lived a childhood dream as a fan, its incredible really. Completely off his own back he's built up a west London version of us into a successful, profitable mid table premiership team with a new ground and enough money to drop £30m on a single player. Hard not to be envious, it'd be insane to see Orient in the prem beating the likes of Arsenal, Man U and Chelsea.

Cheshunto wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2024 9:43 am Very few choices of food in the away section bar and in the upstairs part there was nowhere to put your beer down, ie no tables or chairs……….just a concrete space really.
I thought our fans created a good atmosphere though

I had a sausage roll at the ground it was probably the best sausage roll I've ever eaten

Long slender neck wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2024 8:49 am Don't suppose a tie against us is very exciting for them

Hit the nail on the head there, no offence. Has been the same for every cup tie so far that wasn't one of the big boys, poor atmosphere.

Lots of curious one-off visitors come when it's "only the league cup" and we are shifting cheap tickets. I don't blame them for not creating an atmosphere, though, more frustrated that the majority of season ticket holders I know can't be arsed with the league cup. Some are on holiday, long way to travel from wherever they live now on a weeknight etc, but you can be sure most of them would find the time to be there for a midweek PL game... shrug. I was there and roped in a few members who sometimes go.

I love the stadium TBH and don't miss Griffin Park even after 30 years as a fan there. It helps that it's tied in with the most successful period most of us can remember. Easy for football fans to romanticise the past - and I know away fans loved that lower tier terrace at GP - but GP was very tired by the end and would have needed radical work even for one season in the PL, it would have taken the capacity below 10k, probably. It worked out great that we returned from Covid to see us win a play-off semi in the new stadium and then straight into the PL.

As for the location it was much preferable to find a site for a new stadium in a "soulless" bit of Brentford, than end up moving miles to Feltham or even further. The new flats were needed to pay for the project. There are plenty of pubs within half a mile if you do your homework, and unlike most PL clubs you might visit they all welcome away fans. Many people still go to the same pubs they went to around GP.

The original plan of 20-25k was changed because it made the project a lot more expensive and vulnerable to over-runs. The owner's choice. Not what we wished for at the time, but its not our money and he doesn't get a lot wrong. 17k is fine.

The area around the ground reminded me of a larger version of AFC Wimbledon.

The ground itself was fit for purpose, given its size. I suppose Brentford fans might miss elements of their old ground a bit but in the main will be happy with what its helped them achieve.

We are looking at a stadium at about 16k capacity with room for expansion. I'd guess the stadium last night would look something like what we could end up with - which we'd put up with for a place in the championship.

New grounds will always have a property tie in, particularly in London. It's the only way to get the numbers to work and to get local authorities to sign off on allocating prime development land for anything other than the housing they desperately need. Means you inevitably get massive towers to achieve the density of development that would have otherwise been built had there been no stadium. assuming we stay in Leyton, we will build something that will look and feel quite similar, though maybe with less bells and whistles.

Really hope we'd include standing like Brentford have in a new ground. Grew up watching us on the north terrace and really miss it.

It's as good a new stadium as you can hope for in London.

I didn't know that Brentford had a posh bit, but we did find it. Went to a riverside pub (River Brent that is), called the Weir. Sadly only London Pride on, but it was far better than the sour pint at the pub next to Fuller's offices.

Agree with Joe that the acoustics were brilliant, and enjoyed the safe standing.

Not so much the new song "We're 13 years old. We sit where we want".

Proposition Joe wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2024 9:42 am As new stadia go, it's alright. Standing, great acoustics - can barely remember a noise as loud as when we scored. Area around it is terrible though.

Around it is Kew Gardens, famous throughout the world, part of the Thames where the annual boat race is held and Richmond on Thames, my mum's favourite place in all the world. Of course you won't see any of that just turning up for football and going home again - only the flyover and all the office blocks etc.

Yeah, really surprised by the sour grapes upthread slating the stadium. It's not even a bad area either, you're literally 10 minutes from some lovely riverside drinking. The only thing I didn't really like is that it's West London and miles from anywhere truly civilised.

The typically unimaginative "you sold your soul, for this ****hole" chant from some Orient fans last night begs the question - what would their price be? Because you can be sure that most of them would snap their Grandma's hands off for something similar and Premier League football.

I'd swap our stadium for one like that anytime .