London's Forgotten Club
In the 2014/15 season, Leyton Orient FC were in the Sky Bet League 1, the third division of football in England, and were heavy favourites to win the league and make it back to the Championship for the first time since 1982. Eccentric Italian businessman Francesco Becchetti was at the helm as president, with Russell Slade as manager and exciting players in Dean Cox, Jobi McAnuff and Mathieu Baudry. Four seasons, two relegations, and eleven managers later, they sit outside of the Football League, a mid-table side in the Vanarama National.
This story will document the work of an ex-player taking his first step into management with the embattled London-based club, working with new chairman Nigel Travis to take the O's back up the table and into the Football League and all the financial incentives it offers. He will work to promote homegrown talent, play a distinctly English brand of football, and transform Leyton Orient into everyone's second favourite team, the plucky Londoners up against the wall. Most importantly, he will restore the sense of pride fans had in this club back in 2014, when they had just finished 3rd in League 1 and it seemed the world was their oyster. After 4 seasons of hardship, our manager wants to be the messiah.
This story will be told from the third person, with a combination of news reports, match reports and monthly reports. I like to incorporate graphics and slick presentation into my stories so hopefully it's easy on the eye. One of my all-time favourite stories was with Orient in FM15, and so it's been sad watching them slip down the table in the last couple of seasons. I hope I can restore them to their former glory and have fun while I do it.
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