Leyton Orient (the decline of)

Murray 17 said:

But West Ham can fill 70% of it. Orient would struggle to fill 10%.

Are you saying that LO should have sold their ground and rented Wembley? (if they had been allowed to). If a club doesn't have the security of real estate behind them, there would be only one way to go if financial difficulties struck.

I realise that TB owns The Amex, but I think this situation is slightly different.

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AZ Gull said:

Last Monday night Albion U-23s lost 2-0 at Villa Park; one of Villa 's central defenders was a lad called Jacob Bedeau. He is only 17. Villa purchased him from Bury on the last day of the transfer window in January for a fee thought to be around £900,000.

What has any of that got to do with this thread? Bedeau was in the Leyton Orient youth system but was released last season during his U-16 schoolboy season. He ended up being picked up by Bury and he started his scholarship in July. The Bury youth manager was Ryan Kidd. When first team boss David Flitcroft was sacked in November 2016, Kidd became joint caretaker-manager (and then assistant to new boss Chris Brass). After making his debut for the first team when he came on as a sub at halftime in Bury's defeat against Millwall at the end of November, Bedeau started 6 matches for the Shakers and at one fixture there were reported to be 27 scouts watching him. Villa had a bid of £750,000 rejected before they finally agreed a deal.

I bet there are one or two at Leyton Orient regretting that decision to let him go last season....

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edna krabappel said:

I have no idea what you're talking about. I was simply musing that the upwardly mobile trajectory of their near neighbours must make Orient's current plight even more painful for their fans.

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edna krabappel said:

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.

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BensGrandad said:

Perhaps the coaching staff didn't recognize the potential, which often happens,

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Gwylan said:

I bet there are one or two at Leyton Orient wondering who the hell is running the U-16 squad. I know kids mature at different ages but a player who's worth 900k in January would have been a decent player 6 months earlier - no-one improves that quickly.

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Cowfold Seagull said:

I don't necessarily agree. Six months is a long time for someone under 16 years of age. In footballing terms a young lad can improve an awful lot in that time. Both in terms of his skill levels, and his physical attributes too.

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