Leyton Orient (the decline of)

[Insel affe]

Sad. Great rivals for many years, and we had some good battles against them. Will always remember that incredible 4-4 draw at the Goldstone in our final season, when we were in a similar situation to the one that they are facing now.

What goes around eh...

 

[m20gull]

I wonder whether in a professional sport we need to recognise that history has no monetary value and admit that all clubs are temporary vessels. Orient are hardly the first club to hit the buffers since our troubles. I feel for the fans and trust they will do all that they can, with support from other fans just like we did.

 

[amexer]

Have sympathy but still find it hard to understand how any club survives on gates of 1/3000. How on earth can it be justified to have 18 full time players. I think you will find players even in div 2 are on £50000 plus.

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

Um, I was actually agreeing with you. To shrewdies like Hearn, the football club is doubtless neither here nor there. Shocking state of affairs but every single ground in the South East is under similar threat. These sharks are all thinking: why have a valuable site for prime real estate that is used less than 20 times a season when you could have a shitty block of shoddily-built profit-generating flats there instead?

Do you think there is any chance that when Orient fought tooth and nail to share The London Stadium, even prepared to go to court over it, it was only because they wanted to flog Brisbane Road, but they did not get what they wanted, so they are running it into the ground anyway.
Lots of clubs in the recent past have been threatened but have paid up in time, lets hope this is the case with Orient, if they don't then they obviously don't care and Orient will be gone, Shame, because I have so much time for the small London and Manchester clubs, yes, even Millwall.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

And Orient for A fiver.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Thier name is PRICELESS. Third Lanark.Queen of the South.Sheffield Wednesday,Gainsborough Trinity,Preston North End,and the list goes on.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Do you think there is any chance that when Orient fought tooth and nail to share The London Stadium, even prepared to go to court over it, it was only because they wanted to flog Brisbane Road, but they did not get what they wanted, so they are running it into the ground anyway.
Lots of clubs in the recent past have been threatened but have paid up in time, lets hope this is the case with Orient, if they don't then they obviously don't care and Orient will be gone, Shame, because I have so much time for the small London and Manchester clubs, yes, even Millwall.

Good shout.

 

[wigman]

It's hard not to feel sorry for their fans, brings back memories of bad times.

Will never forgive McGleish though!

100% spot on with the McGleish quote.

 

[Ernest]

Get John Sitton back as manager

 

[Gregory2Smith1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRpmgS184Iw

 

[beorhthelm]

Smells to me that Hearn has an asset stripping plan.

bit harsh, i recall he threw millions at the club, bought the ground off them to weigh off loans and leased back for free. his ownership of the ground is probably protecting them from the current club owner stripping and selling up.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Funny how all the money in English football has attracted so many overseas "investors" (I use that term loosely in some cases). It's clear that our country's teams are often viewed by outsiders looking in as an easy way to get rich, ignoring the fact that most clubs, certainly in the Football League, make a loss every month. I can't see any other reason why a bunch of Italians would, with the greatest of respect, be interested in a club like Leyton Orient.

Notts County had that bizarre overseas consortium buy them at one stage, with disastrous consequences, Blackpool were owned for a time by a Latvian guy, you've got Demin ploughing his honestly earned money into Bournemouth when they were in the FL. Charlton's Belgian owners, Derby have American owners now, Forest fans are trying to get rid of Fawaz (the Kuwaiti guy), Cardiff have had all manner of issues with Vincent Tan, then there's the infamous Venkys at Blackburn: no doubt there are plenty more.

Does this ever end well? I suppose Bournemouth will argue that it has done for them, but I'm still convinced that something dodgy will come out of that particular situation in the end, and it may well all come crashing down around them.

Trouble with the Italians (in particular, and relevant here) is they seem to use a club as a monumental vanity project. Leeds, QPR and now Orient. In two of three cases, quivering todgewombles who make Trump look statesmanlike and lacking in vindictiveness. Ironically, in my game, Italians have a reputation for fabricating data, nepotism and hubris. Fancy that.

Can't say I have massive fondness for Orient. But its probably down to my loathing of Hearne, who looks like Farage after a visit to Trumps dentist, all gleaming smiles, deep pile seat and deep seat piles, and an eye on the main chance, rather than any dislike of the loyal support on my part. Mostly pipesuckers, with whom I'd happily share a pint. Mind you, I'd be a bit more sympathetic if the O's rank and file had opposed the concrete bejazzling of Brisbane Road (the blocks of flats on each corner) and not sat back and enjoyed the 'good times' under the auspices of that charlatan, Bazza.

They will be all right in the end but, like it has been for us, the end could be 20 years down the line . . .

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

And if the football club does go out of business? A prime bit of land for sale? Who gets paid for it? Hmmm could that be Hearn?

I think he's agreeing with you. But I read it the other way, first read. Email/internet - no nuance possible unless you add emoticons!

 

[Thunder Bolt]

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[Lady Whistledown]

Bottom of the entire Football League now too, and seven points adrift of safety with eight matches to play. Relegation is a matter of when, not if.

Must be even worse sat there looking at West Ham's shiny new bargain stadium just up the road.

 

[Triggaaar]

looking at West Ham's shiny new bargain stadium

Well that's a matter of opinion. A build cost of £187.50 a seat might seem like a bargain to you, but not everyone has that kind of money.

 

[BensGrandad]

I wonder if Barry Hearn or son will step back in to take over and clear their debts. The problem is the probability of relegation. They need to bring in MA or is he still at Sligo to try to stay up or a similar battler.

 

[spence]

I hated Orient back in the days when we played them regularly and lost something like 9 games on the bounce and of course Dean Smith, yet i looked forward to this fixture. Time has moved on and so have we and i'm generally sad to see there demise. There was a time when they brought something like 1500- 2000 fans to the Goldstone which was excellent for a small club. Puts clubs like Reading support to shame.
We played them once at Brisbane Road and myself and a few mates went in the home end. We had that rubbish soldier player playing for us up top and we actually won 2-1 - Amazing.
Celebrated both goals and the locals and stewards were a credit to their club. Never got chucked out but had good banter. Great day that.

I would hate to see them go under, probably any club for that matter really.

 

[Durlston]

The National League is not the graveyard that it used to be. Nearly every club is full-time apart from the smaller ones like Braintree, Maidstone and North Ferriby. A lot of matches are televised on BT Sport so I expect Orient to be on the box quite a lot as they're a big name. There's also some fairly local derbies like Dagenham, Woking, Braintree and Bromley.

Sincere best wishes to Leyton Orient and all their fans. They'll be back in the league very soon I hope.

 

[Easy 10]

Charlton's Belgian owners, Derby have American owners now, Forest fans are trying to get rid of Fawaz (the Kuwaiti guy)

Prime opportunity passed up to refer to him as "the Kuwaiti fridge magnate" there Edna.

Disappointing.