EXCL:” Leyton Orient grew from humble origins”

Ahead of the new Sky Bet League One season, which will kick-off in August, we’re taking a look at the seven new teams who will feature in the third tier of English football next season.

Up next in this feature are Leyton Orient Football Club, who will be playing in the third tier of English football for the first time since 2015 following their promotion from Sky Bet League Two back in April.

The O’s finished the 2022/23 season in first place after picking up 91 points from their 46 games. Head coach Richie Wellens joined the club in March last year, and after getting Swindon Town promoted only two years earlier, he wanted to get another accolade on his CV, and he got that.

With Orient now back in League One, will they hit the ground running following last season’s success? We’ve taken a trip down memory lane to look back at the key moments in the club’s history.

The Leyton Orient we know today grew from humble origins, beginning in Homerton in 1881 as Glyn Cricket Club.

Evolving many times throughout 140 years, the Club has had to overcome great obstacles. We will of course always remember the three Clapton Orient players who made the ultimate sacrifice and lost their lives WW1; Sargeant Richard McFadden, Private William Jonas and Private George Scott.

In more recent years, the Club suffered at the hands of bad ownership and fell out of the Football League for the first time, relegated at the end of the 2016/17 season.

Whilst the effects were felt throughout the Club, under the stewardship of new owners Eagle Investments, led by boyhood Orient fan and now Chairman Nigel Travis, the club was able to stabilise and the aim was to bounce back to where it belonged.

Under the stewardship of manager Justin Edinburgh, the O’s were able to gain promotion back to the Football League at the end of the 2018-19 season, however the celebrations were short lived, as Edinburgh tragically lost his life on 8th June 2019.

In 2020, the West Stand at The Breyer Group Stadium was renamed the Justin Edinburgh Stand, in a moment of “enormous pride and excitement” for his family.

After finishing 13th in the league table last season, the aim was to reach the top six but it was a season that the club, the staff and its players will remember for a long time as they were named League Two champions through their well oiled performances, which had been praised by many pundits over the last 10 months.

The last time Fleetwood Town played against Orient was back in the 2014/15 season, with the first match ending 1-1 at Highbury Stadium with Stephen Dobbie scoring late on to salvage a point. In the reverese fixture, Town claimed all three points thanks to Gareth Evans’ 46th minute strike in the capital.

When looking at Leyton Orient’s odds for this season in League One, they are 50/1 to be crowned Champions, which would make it back-to-back titles. The O’s are backed at 7/1 to reach the Play-Offs – can they do it again for the second time running? Only time will tell.

 

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