BEST&WORST LEYTON ORIENT
Orient Outlook podcasters Paul Levy & Steve Nussbaum discuss shady owners and hipster beards at The O’s
XI
BEST: Paul Heald, Matt Lockwood, John Mackie, Dean Smith, Stan Charlton, Laurie Cunningham, Peter Allen, Steve Castle, Alan Comfort, Tommy Johnson, Peter Kitchen.
WORST: Shwan Jalal, Andrea Dossena, Shane Lowry, Teddy Mezague, Zan Benedicic, Jens Janse, Ulrich N’Nomo, Sam Parkin, James Scowcroft, Gianvito Plasmati, Darius Henderson.
PLAYER
B: Laurie Cunningham [right], whose rise to fame is Roy Of The Rovers stuff. From the O’s to Real Madrid and an England international, he’s a person to be very proud of.
W: We’ve had more than our fair share of dross but one of the worst was Gianvito Plasmati, an absolutely awful signing from the previous regime. One of his shots at goal is still orbiting Earth.
OWNER
B: Look no further than the current regime of Nigel Travis and Kent Teague. They built our club back from the ashes of the previous ownership.
W: Francesco Becchetti is still wanted by the Albanian authorities.
GAME
B: The 2013-14 League One play-off semi-final second leg at home to Peterborough was a special evening: a 2-1 win thanks to a super goal from Dean Cox. Euphoria, pitch invasions – it doesn’t get better than that!
W: The final that followed it. We were 2-0 up at half-time but lost in a penalty shootout – gut-wrenching, and the beginning of a huge downward spiral.
MOMENT
B: The second that the full-time whistle blew at home to Braintree in one of the poorest matches we’ve ever seen [above]. The euphoria of winning the 2018-19 National League, knowing that we were back in the Football League, and every supporter legging it onto the pitch to celebrate with the players and looking back on Macauley Bonne singing ‘F**k off Salford’ with his brother... magic.
W: When our worst fears were confirmed and we were relegated to the National League in 2016-17.
CHANT
B: “He’s got no hair and we don’t care”, sung with fondness about Russell Slade, who would doff his ever-present cap when hearing it to show that he, indeed, had no hair and did not care.
W: “Da da da da, f**king useless”. It is as rubbish typing it
