SEASON 2007/08 - LEYTON ORIENT
LEAGUE ONE: 15th, 55PTS. W12, D19, L15, F54, A57
FA CUP: 1st round, lost 1-0 to Peterborough
LEAGUE CUP: 2nd round, lost 2-0 to Leicester
LDV VANS: 2nd round south, lost 2-0 to Swansea.
Another season of same old for Leyton Orient, and considering our mission that is no bad thing. Little success in the terms of cup runs this season, but despite a late season scare we retained our place after promotion. It was expected to be a struggle, with odds of 50-1, and fans and board alike expecting relegation to be close at hand.
The finances were looking a lot better with around £500,000 in the kitty at the start of the year, of which I was given £160,000. This was financed by the sale of my young midfielder last year, and considering what little impact he had at Swindon this year it was smart business. The wage budget started at £15,000 but raised to £17,500 when the board realised I had lots of contracts to renew. I finished the season £2.5K over budget and with none of my transfer funds left, after spending £26K on a young striker from Man U (finished with 8 goals), a right winger on a bosman from Cheltenham, a central defender from £120K from Mansfield and a bargain young right back from Middlesbrough for only £9K.
We lost our first two games, provoking fears that we might be out of our depths. No need to worry though as we launched into a 10 game unbeaten run. League One is very tight with little separating the play off hopefuls from the relegation battlers, and we floated in between for much of the season as we drew more than we won or lost.
We peaked in February when we reached 9th place and were only 3 points out of the playoffs. We then promptly dove like a sub, losing the next 5 games without scoring a goal, my two main strikers and two main central midfielders getting injured, and not really much hope. With 4 games to play, the end of the season had crept up on me and in our 11 game without winning streak, we had somehow slipped from 3 points outside the playoffs to 2 points outside relegation!
Luckily MK Dons were hopeless and we stayed up quite easily, with 2 wins and a draw from our last 4, and we finished a comfortable 9 points clear in safety for 15th place.
Financially the season was strong and made around £500K without any significant income from transfers so financially the club seems viable despite our grand still having a paltry just under 5,000 capacity. It was regularly full this year with 4,539 the average, but we still do not have enough money for expansion.
Players leaving the club were mainly on a free, and consisted largely of young homegrown talent who had done well to help us escape from League Two but had reached their potential and the club outgrew them. We also said goodbye to our Scottish left back after two seasons, and that will be a priority gap to fill in the summer.
On the records front, our top goalscorer was once again our young Irishman with 22, and my other main striker in his sixth season overtook the club record for league goals as he netted 18. The top rating for a player was our central midfielder signed the previous year from Forest Green.
Looking to next season it will be interesting to see how long we can hold onto our top young players as the likes of Celtic, Everton and ever growing Championship side Doncaster regularly show interest. And as for West Ham? Mid table mediocrity in the Championship, 16th place.
Aim for next season: an upper half finish.
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