TONIGHT’S OPPOSITION
LEYTON ORIENT LEYTON ORIENT were founded in 1881 by a group of boys who played under the guise of Glyn Cricket Club. In 1888, the club was re-named Orient FC after the Orient Steamship & Navigation Company who then player, Jack Dearing worked for. The club became professional in late 1903 and in 1905 were elected into the Second Division of the Football League along with Chelsea, Leeds City and Stockport County.
Hearn sold the club in June 2014 to Francesco Becchetti, but Orient were relegated from League One in 2014-15 and even worse was to come when they were relegated from the Football League in 2016-17. With that Becchetti sold the club to Nigel Travis, but they stabilised and Justin Edinburgh led them back to the EFL in 2018-19 after winning the National League title, beating Town twice in the process.
The club won it’s first promotion in 1955-56 after topping the Division Three South with a club record 106 goals in 46 games. In April 1962 Orient won promotion to Division One, however their stay lasted just a year and the O’s were relegated with another relegation to Division Three following. Orient were Division Three Champions in 1970 and missed out on promotion back to Division One in 1974 by a point. 1982 saw a return to Division Three, and 1985 ended in relegation to Division Four.
Summer 2019 was a very difficult time for the club with the passing of Justin Edinburgh, and so soon after them returning to the EFL, but the club continued remarkably. Ross Embleton who worked with the squad under Edinburgh took over and lead the O’s to a 17th-place finish in their first season back in the EFL last season.
The mid-1990s were a period of financial difficulty with Barry Hearn taking ownership in March 1995 but he couldn’t prevent Orient being relegated to the fourth tier. In 1999 the O’s lost the playoff final to Scunthorpe United and again to Blackpool in 2001. Promotion was finally achieved in 2005-06 when Orient finished third. A period of near-success came under Russell Slade who led Orient to seventh in 2012-13, and third in 2013-14 to reach the play-offs but they lost the final to Rotherham United.
This season, the O’s have suffered from inconsistency, where runs of wins have often been followed by runs of losses. Following a dip in form and a run of seven games without a win in January and February, the club parted company with Embleton and placed Jobi McAnuff in interim charge feeling that the play-offs were still within reach. The change has had a positive effect with the O’s going unbeaten in seven including four wins on the bounce, a run which only came to an end on Saturday at Cheltenham and that has seen them close within four points of the play-offs.
FOUNDED 1881
NICKNAME The O’s
THE BREYER GROUP STADIUM Capacity 9,271
RECORD SCORER Tom Johnston - 121 (1956-61)
RECORD APPEARANCES Peter Allen - 432 (1965-78)
RECORD TRANSFER FEE PAID £175k Paul Beesley To Wigan Athletic Oct 1989 RECORD TRANSFER FEE RECEIVED £600K John Chiedozie From Notts County Aug 1981
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