Leyton Orient From A Distance

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I know that I haven't mentioned sports a lot in this blog recently, as most of my spare time has been spent on the agonies and ecstasies of moving house (scrub that, just the agonies).

But there was a piece of news I heard yesterday that cannot go uncommented. After one hundred and twelve years Leyton Orient have been relegated from the Football League.

As explained previously though I'm a West Ham fan there are a group of clubs such as Cardiff, Swansea and Newport County that I consider friends. The best way to describe my attitude to these teams is like being very friendly with a woman but not having an affair as you're faithful to your wife.

But by far the oldest team in this group is Leyton Orient.

When I was much, much younger and the Hammers were playing far away I would travel down the central line from Redbridge to Leyton tube station, walk to Brisbane Road and watch a game. And you know, even if it's from the misty fog of nostalgia can't ever recall a game that was dull.

O's fans had a different sense of humour as well. I can remember a game in the eighties (can't give precise details, the programme having been boxed/crated) against Brighton. It's the first half and the Brighton player Steve Foster was sent off for a dangerous tackle. The away fans at the far end of the ground from me were furious. Screaming blue murder at the decision. The Home fans seemed content enough to do nothing but cheer until half time.

However once the ref blew his whistle the Brighton fans increased their hostile roars against him. The Orient fans? As he was approaching the tunnel they stood up and gave the man a standing ovation.

Brighton now promoted to the Premier League. Orient now relegated from the Football League. There are many twists and turns in football. It can provide joy but also can be cruel to those who don't deserve it.

I mentioned in September that in late nineties took my then girlfriend (and now wife) to watch a match where they faced the Welsh team Merthyr Tydfil in an FA Cup third round match. So it's even been used to help me court her. So thank you for that.

But of course they've never had it easy. Living under the shadow of the bigger London clubs, and particularly West Ham meant that they would always have pressure with regard to support. I support West Ham because it's the closest team to where I was born but am always annoyed by people living by me who supported Arsenal (Man Utd etc) because it was the more successful club so can understand Orient fans' annoyance. And when West Ham won the battle to move into the Olympic Stadium there was a lot of focus on Tottenham's failed attempt to do. But Spurs were just being North London chancers. Leyton Orient was more affected by this move and to me from a distance here in Wales seems to have been ignored by the London authority.

With the exact science that is hindsight the match I saw in September was a shape of things to come. At that time the O's were in top half of the table and their opponents Yeovil Town were at the bottom. But despite what the table standings would have suggested beforehand and that the home team were basically the better side, Yeovil had but one clear opportunity to score and they took it.

But it's what happened after the defeat that I'll always remember. When the Orient fans shouted their protests at the emperor Nero of an owner and he seemed to have waved their concerns away with cold disdain from an executive box. His look at that moment is one I'll never forget, seeming to have viewed the fans as if they were peasants.

It since then it's got much worse. A succession of defeats and indeed managers have led them to the relegation they have to deal with today. But you could argue that off the field the situation is even more worrying. A winding up order due to unpaid debts is hanging over the club and staff haven't been paid since March which they issued a statement about saying that they've had no communication about this from club directors. A situation that goes beyond sad. Tragic is the closest word I can think of.

The attitude of the owner is beyond comprehension. At best it seems to be Nero fiddling whilst Rome burns. At worst the thoughts turn much darker but I don't feel expert enough to discuss it here. I would suggest downloading the Orient Outlook (the best one club podcast I know) when it next comes out to hear the opinions of its more knowledgeable presenters. It'll be a sad listen but an important one for all fans of football.

Leyton Orient. In a hospital bed fighting to stay alive. For what it's worth I hope you'll pull through.

Until the next time.