I love Wikipedia. I wish it was around when I was at school, it would have saved me the trouble of going to classes or reading books and stuff.
The Leyton Orient page seems to me to be pretty comprehensive and accurate, although I'm mystified and somewhat amused by a couple of changes of late. Now, glance to the right of this page and you'll see the shamelessly rampant self-promotion of my book, Leyton Orient Greats. (There, see, I did it again.)
Since it's only sold about six copies (thanks mum and dad!), I figured I'd add it to bibliography section of the Orient wikipedia page. And yet, inexplicably, on 8 July 2010, someone removed it. Wikipedia keeps a searchable record of every change to every page, so you can see the change here.
Notice what else was changed at the same time? Yes, the details of 'club historian' Neil Kaufman were substantially expanded and updated.
Obviously I added the book back again, but this evening, to my surprise, I found that the reference had been deleted again. I tracked the change to 1 December - you can view it here.
Bizarrely, the same person that deleted my book from the bibliography also, once again, updated and expanded the section on 'club historian' Neil Kaufman.
What a mystery, eh? Anyone any ideas?
A chance to share the joys and pain – mostly pain – of supporting Leyton Orient
16 January 2011
03 January 2011
Leyton Orient 4 Colchester United 2, 3/1/11
A game in which... Orient, like a fat girl on a bungee jump, bounced back from their 5-0 defeat at Brighton with a fine performance, probably the best at Brisbane Road this season. Against a promotion-chasing team, the Os were committed, measured, intelligent and controlled the game for the vast majority of the 90 minutes.
Moment to savour... A goal by Jimmy Smith! The ex-Chelsea man has clocked up almost 2000 minutes of football this season, presumably because no one on the bench noticed he was playing in time to actually substitute him. Still, fair play to the midfielder, his deftly-executed looping header put Orient into the lead and in command of the game.
Head in hands moment... Dean Cox is a man of many talents - his ability to get away with a child fare on public transport, for example - but his decision to delicately chip the ball from outside the centre circle into his own penalty area with Colchester players rushing forward wasn’t one of his better moments.
King for a day... It’s been a while since Orient have had a consistently decent right-back (John Johnston apparently had a blinder of a season in 1910/11) but loanee Andrew Whing’s performance today was a masterclass in no-nonsense defending coupled with extreme gingerness. Chorley, Omozusi, Daniels and Smith also deserve credit.
Boo boy... Jamie Jones, to be honest, is a touch out of form, exemplified by a spill even BP would have trouble justifying that led to Colchester’s first goal. But remember this: no League One goalkeeper is going to go through a whole season without enduring some sort of nightmare-inducing catastrophe and Jones is the most consistent and talented keeper Orient have had for many years. No cause for alarm!
In the dug out... Big Russ's decision to leave M'Poku on the bench raised a few eyebrows, but the manager clearly got his tactics right on the day. Eagle-eyed West Standers will have noticed that Slade filled up two pages of notes over the 90 minutes, no doubt containing important directives such as, 'Must remind Springy to pass it forwards occasionally next time round.'
What would Martin Ling have done? Given Orient the shake-up it needed after the Brighton defeat by sending out exactly the same team, with exactly the same tactics but with the words 'try to play a bit better' ringing in their ears from his stirring, Churchillian pre-match team talk.
Going down? Not on the strength of this and other recent performances (ie not Brighton). And we're only six points off the play-offs. Enjoy it while it lasts!
Moment to savour... A goal by Jimmy Smith! The ex-Chelsea man has clocked up almost 2000 minutes of football this season, presumably because no one on the bench noticed he was playing in time to actually substitute him. Still, fair play to the midfielder, his deftly-executed looping header put Orient into the lead and in command of the game.
Head in hands moment... Dean Cox is a man of many talents - his ability to get away with a child fare on public transport, for example - but his decision to delicately chip the ball from outside the centre circle into his own penalty area with Colchester players rushing forward wasn’t one of his better moments.
King for a day... It’s been a while since Orient have had a consistently decent right-back (John Johnston apparently had a blinder of a season in 1910/11) but loanee Andrew Whing’s performance today was a masterclass in no-nonsense defending coupled with extreme gingerness. Chorley, Omozusi, Daniels and Smith also deserve credit.
Boo boy... Jamie Jones, to be honest, is a touch out of form, exemplified by a spill even BP would have trouble justifying that led to Colchester’s first goal. But remember this: no League One goalkeeper is going to go through a whole season without enduring some sort of nightmare-inducing catastrophe and Jones is the most consistent and talented keeper Orient have had for many years. No cause for alarm!
In the dug out... Big Russ's decision to leave M'Poku on the bench raised a few eyebrows, but the manager clearly got his tactics right on the day. Eagle-eyed West Standers will have noticed that Slade filled up two pages of notes over the 90 minutes, no doubt containing important directives such as, 'Must remind Springy to pass it forwards occasionally next time round.'
What would Martin Ling have done? Given Orient the shake-up it needed after the Brighton defeat by sending out exactly the same team, with exactly the same tactics but with the words 'try to play a bit better' ringing in their ears from his stirring, Churchillian pre-match team talk.
Going down? Not on the strength of this and other recent performances (ie not Brighton). And we're only six points off the play-offs. Enjoy it while it lasts!
01 January 2011
Why five-goal defeats are good for Orient. Really...
(September 2012 update: I actually wrote this just after we'd been turned over 5-0 by Brighton on New Year's Day 2011. Orient then went on a record-breaking 17-game unbeaten run which, contrary to everything else on this blog, means I was actually correct. Five-goal defeats are good for Orient, so the loss at Goodison Park should be seen as a blessing in disguise. Right?)
Admittedly a 5-0 loss on 1 January isn't the best portent for the next year of football at Leyton Orient. But a look back over the last decade reveals that the Os have been turned over by a five-goal margin on four other occasions, and each time bounced back determinedly.
In other words, this could be a blessing in disguise. And while it's quite difficult to type while clutching a huge fistful of straws, I've amassed some evidence...
Leyton Orient 0 Swansea 5
6 October 2007
What happened? Incredible as it may sound now, Orient went into their 10th game of the 2007/08 season at the summit of League One. Fans were dreaming of promotion to the Championship and mouthwatering trips to the likes of Scunthorpe, Plymouth and Colchester. Unfortunately Swansea came to Brisbane Road and proved that Orient's early season form was just a Zepplin-sized blip, caused mostly by Martin Ling temporarily playing Sean Thornton in his correct position. Psychiatrist-bothering goalkeeper Stuart Nelson throwing four of the five goals into his own net probably didn't help.
But every cloud has a silver lining... In their next league game Orient bounced back with one of their most heroic performances of the decade, holding Leeds to a 1-1 draw at Elland Road despite having only 10 men for 60 minutes of the game and being on the wrong end of a litany of refereeing howlers.
Bournemouth 5 Leyton Orient 0
10 February 2007
What happened? In the 2006/07 season - with Orient back in the third tier - manager Martin Ling employed a quite visionary strategy known as, 'Just give the ball to Locky and hope for the best.' Unfortunately Bournemouth's Darren Anderton was familiar with such a ploy, having once played under the same system for England ('Give it to Gazza, hope for the best'). He scored a hatrick.
But every cloud has a silver lining... Although Orient lost their next league game 4-1 to Brighton, the combined shock of the two defeats spurred the team into a seven-match unbeaten run that allowed them to escape relegation by the skin of their teeth.
Doncaster Rovers 5 Leyton Orient 0
10 January 2004
What happened? Having been officially annointed as Orient manager in December 2004, Martin Ling was learning the ropes the hard way (ie trying to get results from a team containing Tom Newey, David Hunt and Billy Jones). Still, no one except every single Orient fan could have expected the team to go down so miserably to league leaders Doncaster.
But every cloud has a silver lining... A shell-shocked Orient went on to win their next two league games and the experience was part of the learning curve that led Martin Ling to take the team up two seasons later.
Carlisle United 6 Leyton Orient 1
12 January 2002
What happened? Back in the dark days of the early millennium, Orient's away form was like a unicorn. Non-existent. Still, the 100 or so dedicated masochists who made the long, mid-winter trip to Carlisle probably hoped that Orient wouldn't be 3-0 down in the first 18 minutes, or indeed 5-0 down at half-time. Still, if there was ever a manager to pull off a miraculous second-half recovery, it sure as hell wasn't Paul Brush...
But every cloud has a silver lining... Two weeks later Orient travelled to Goodison Park to play Everton in the fourth round of the FA Cup and put in a gutsy and convincing display against a Premier League team. They still lost 4-1, mind.
Admittedly a 5-0 loss on 1 January isn't the best portent for the next year of football at Leyton Orient. But a look back over the last decade reveals that the Os have been turned over by a five-goal margin on four other occasions, and each time bounced back determinedly.
In other words, this could be a blessing in disguise. And while it's quite difficult to type while clutching a huge fistful of straws, I've amassed some evidence...
Leyton Orient 0 Swansea 5
6 October 2007
What happened? Incredible as it may sound now, Orient went into their 10th game of the 2007/08 season at the summit of League One. Fans were dreaming of promotion to the Championship and mouthwatering trips to the likes of Scunthorpe, Plymouth and Colchester. Unfortunately Swansea came to Brisbane Road and proved that Orient's early season form was just a Zepplin-sized blip, caused mostly by Martin Ling temporarily playing Sean Thornton in his correct position. Psychiatrist-bothering goalkeeper Stuart Nelson throwing four of the five goals into his own net probably didn't help.
But every cloud has a silver lining... In their next league game Orient bounced back with one of their most heroic performances of the decade, holding Leeds to a 1-1 draw at Elland Road despite having only 10 men for 60 minutes of the game and being on the wrong end of a litany of refereeing howlers.
Bournemouth 5 Leyton Orient 0
10 February 2007
What happened? In the 2006/07 season - with Orient back in the third tier - manager Martin Ling employed a quite visionary strategy known as, 'Just give the ball to Locky and hope for the best.' Unfortunately Bournemouth's Darren Anderton was familiar with such a ploy, having once played under the same system for England ('Give it to Gazza, hope for the best'). He scored a hatrick.
But every cloud has a silver lining... Although Orient lost their next league game 4-1 to Brighton, the combined shock of the two defeats spurred the team into a seven-match unbeaten run that allowed them to escape relegation by the skin of their teeth.
Doncaster Rovers 5 Leyton Orient 0
10 January 2004
What happened? Having been officially annointed as Orient manager in December 2004, Martin Ling was learning the ropes the hard way (ie trying to get results from a team containing Tom Newey, David Hunt and Billy Jones). Still, no one except every single Orient fan could have expected the team to go down so miserably to league leaders Doncaster.
But every cloud has a silver lining... A shell-shocked Orient went on to win their next two league games and the experience was part of the learning curve that led Martin Ling to take the team up two seasons later.
Carlisle United 6 Leyton Orient 1
12 January 2002
What happened? Back in the dark days of the early millennium, Orient's away form was like a unicorn. Non-existent. Still, the 100 or so dedicated masochists who made the long, mid-winter trip to Carlisle probably hoped that Orient wouldn't be 3-0 down in the first 18 minutes, or indeed 5-0 down at half-time. Still, if there was ever a manager to pull off a miraculous second-half recovery, it sure as hell wasn't Paul Brush...
But every cloud has a silver lining... Two weeks later Orient travelled to Goodison Park to play Everton in the fourth round of the FA Cup and put in a gutsy and convincing display against a Premier League team. They still lost 4-1, mind.