Tony Cascarino Times Article

[PotatOhead]

Hunger, bags of ambition and an offer to put my boots back on… my night at OrientTony Cascarino finds the League One club in buoyant mood, with talk of a potential move to a new stadium and exciting loanees taking them to a home FA Cup tie against Manchester City


You might say that scoring the winning penalty in the FA Cup to set up a tie with the reigning world club champions is priceless. At Leyton Orient on Tuesday night, I am sure they will have been doing the sums.
When the third-round draw was made, I wanted to visit Orient to see how an aspirational League One club can exist in an area of London dominated by West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal — all of whom have moved to bigger stadiums in the past 20 years.
Orient were due to face Derby County, who won promotion from Orient’s division last season and are now struggling in the Championship. The match was postponed on Saturday because of a frozen pitch, but that the winners had been drawn to host Manchester City in the fourth round made the rescheduled tie on Tuesday even more appealing


When Zech Obiero, a 19-year-old academy graduate, confidently dispatched the winning spot kick, he earned Orient £115,000 in prize money and potentially another £110,000 in TV income. Pretty significant for a club who posted a loss of £3.7million in their most recent accounts, despite increasing their revenue.
Unlike its loftier neighbours, Brisbane Road still has the feel of a traditional ground tucked away among residential streets, but is much changed from the place where I scored twice for Gillingham and, many years later, came second to Ray Parlour in a Matchroom poker tournament when Barry Hearn owned the club


Now the playing surface is pristine, which led to a brilliant footballing contest, especially in the first half. Like many lower-league clubs, the facilities have multiple uses and the press room doubles as a classroom. Reporters were enjoying their leek and potato soup, surrounded by motivational quotes from the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, and folders of GCSE English homework. The corners of the ground have been replaced by blocks of flats, with a handful of occupants enjoying the action from their balconies.
The original tie was a sellout, but 8,279 still turned up on a chilly Tuesday in January, dreaming of a shock. I was keen to speak to Nigel Travis, the Orient chairman, who is based in Massachusetts, is the chairman of Abercrombie & Fitch and a senior adviser to Blackstone, having been the chief executive of Dunkin’ Brands and Papa Johns.


Before the game, he explained on a video call the potential growth of the fanbase, both in Leyton and abroad. One significant change I noticed on my walk from Leyton Tube station to the ground was the vast number of apartments being built in the vicinity. Travis said the club had put welcome packs — inspired by “welcome wagons” local businesses give to new residents in the United States — in the flats to encourage them to support their nearest team.

Demand for tickets means Orient are exploring a move away from Brisbane Road, which holds about 10,000, to a bigger stadium with a capacity of between 17,000 and 25,000. They are looking at four sites in Waltham Forest and any future development could include a small music venue. To do this, however, the club need more investors. As Travis put it: “Of the 92 League clubs, only 20 make money.”
Travis has also been keen to cultivate interest in Orient overseas through their streaming service, which they launched while in the National League. He also said that the EFL’s new TV deal in the US opens the door for American companies to advertise on the pitchside hoardings.



This is all the more remarkable, given the club nearly didn’t exist eight years ago. The fall and rise of Orient from League One to the National League and back again has been well documented.
I also caught up with Martin Ling, who served the club as a player and manager before returning as director of football in 2017. June 22, 2017, to be precise. The date Orient were rescued by Travis, Kent Teague and their consortium from three ruinous years under the Italian businessman Francesco Beelzebub is written on the whiteboard in Ling’s office as a reminder of how far the club have come.



It was incredibly moving to hear how Ling coped with the death of Justin Edinburgh, the manager who took Orient back to the EFL in 2019, and a former team-mate at Southend United. In the season after Edinburgh’s death, Ling recalled, the mood at the club’s Chigwell training ground had become incredibly flat, and he had to call the squad together to say: “Is this what Justin would have wanted?”
Ling describes the present manager, Richie Wellens, as a “northern Justin” in whom he sees similar leadership qualities. Wellens has completed the owners’ six-year plan to return Orient to League One by 2023 and his young team, who include homegrown players and five loanees, are mounting a surprise push for the play-offs.
Speaking to him after the game, it’s easy to see why. Orient were beaten 3-0 home and away by Derby last season, but Wellens used that as inspiration for his team talk


“This is a different game to last year,” was his message to his players. “They’re a League One team, 30,000 every week at Pride Park, they win every week. Now they are in the Championship, the mindset’s changed. They try to stay in the game, a point’s a good result.



“Their manager actually came out and said they’re a League One team, with some sugar on top. I used that. I said, we’re winning every week. Think about the psychology change from last year. I think we’re trying to win the game in 90 minutes.”
I was impressed by the loanees. Two are from Tottenham Hotspur. Jamie Donley, 20, arrived with much fanfare, and Orient were one of 12 clubs looking to take the left-footed playmaker. Wellens, and the other managers in for Donley, had to give a presentation about why their club was best for his development.
He took up the role James Maddison plays for Spurs, floating in space between defence and midfield. Some of his passes were outstanding and, while he is still to develop physically, he looks a real talent.
Josh Keeley, the goalkeeper, has been a hero in all three rounds. After starring in the first-round penalty shoot-out against Boreham Wood, he scored the equaliser against Oldham Athletic in the second round, which Orient eventually won in extra time. Keeley saved from Callum Elder on Tuesday after ten perfect penalties, which allowed Obiero to win the tie.



Charlie Kelman, the striker on loan from QPR, put Orient ahead, having been set up by another loanee, the Leeds United wide forward Sonny Perkins. Jack Currie, the pacey left back from Oxford United, completed the quintet. All were eager to prove themselves and were determined to seize their chance lower down the pyramid to get their careers going. I saw more hunger from them than some of Tottenham’s team at Tamworth on Sunday.
In different ways, they all have room for improvement, but I thought of myself at 19, 20 and they were doing things on the pitch I couldn’t at their age. They will learn so much from this gruelling tie: resilience, game management and playing through the pain.
The immediate benefit of the FA Cup run has been added funds for Wellens’s squad. By full-time, Orient were down to the bare bones, and even before they knew they would be hosting City, Travis made money available to help cope with the anticipated fixture pile-up.
Wellens said he was looking for a striker to share the load with Kelman, but that the money was “burning a hole” in his pocket. In League One, like anywhere, a target man is hard to come by, and he joked that I should consider lacing up my boots again.
Thanks for the offer, Richie, but I’ll happily come back to watch your team against City instead.


Original link - https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football ... -62v2x32tf

[Currywurst and Chips]

Demand for tickets means Orient are exploring a move away from Brisbane Road, which holds about 10,000, to a bigger stadium with a capacity of between 17,000 and 25,000. They are looking at four sites in Waltham Forest

Anyone know where?

[Currywurst and Chips]

Also, 25,000 capacity lol

[Hoover Attack]

Great article.

[PKM]

Was a decent read.
Re the 4 sites, Nige has said that it’s not fair to name them at this stage.

[Mistadobalina]

They won't say anything on the sites until they an agreement on one. If it's more than a 15-20 minute walk away from Leyton station good luck getting a 17k stadium even close to half filled on a Tuesday night in winter.

Leyton Mills area (anywhere from Asda and the car park onwards) would be the best location, but don't know if the fact that New Spittalfields market isn't going anywhere now changes anything. Massive chunk of redevelopment land no longer available and means the council will have to eek more housing out of the land that is available.

[Proposition Joe]

Good read, thanks.

[Greenwich Orient]

Brilliant article.

[Lifelongfan]

Good stuff

[Give it to Jabo]

yes, thanks. Well written TC. It struck the right tone throughout the piece..

[BIGRON]

Excellent read indeed

[EliotNes]

Great Article. But I'm sure they get more than £110K from Sky for the TV.

[Real Al]

Great Article. But I'm sure they get more than £110K from Sky for the TV.

I saw an article that said it was £125k for last year's 5th round, so sounds about right.