1997-1998

A History of Leyton Orient 1997-1998 as seen through the eyes of a supporter.

I found this bit of history on an old floppy disk in Lotus Word Pro format. I had some trouble downloading a program to open it but luckily I had an old CD with the program on it and with a bit of luck it worked

Various goals from the 1997-8 season. 

Orient ended the 1996/7 season on a high note by beating Chester City 0-1, it was their fourth away win of the season and something they seem not to have done for a decade. Mark Warren was outstanding and thoroughly deserved the Supporters Club Player of the Year award. A horrendous number of players were used (40?) as Tommy Taylor tried out just about anyone that turned up at the door.

McCarthy had already left and free transfers were give to Chapman and Garland though I suspect Taylor may liked to have keep them but he had too may long term contract players to afford that. Timmons was also not retained and it had already been announced that Shilton’s contract would not be renewed. Hanson was placed on the transfer list.

At the end of May Taylor signed Dean White from the relegated Hereford for a tribunal set £42,000 despite Hereford asking price of £250,000 for a player they bought two years previously for £75,000?. Simon Clark was bought from the newly relegated Peterborough and Tony Richards from Cambridge United for a fee settled by the tribunal. United had apparently let him go on a free but once Orient had shown an interest decided to slap a £25,000 fee on his services. Eventually they got £10,000 with a further £5,000 after he plays 30 games. Orient reputedly had offered £1,000. Andy Arnott was sold to Fulham. Another defender Stuart Hicks was signed from Scarborough. Roger Joseph was resigned with permission from the Football League being sought.

In the coming season I asked myself if we were going to see anything of Riches, Ayorinde or Shearer, players that Taylor seemed to have little time for given the way he loaned them out to other clubs. There was an expectation of exciting things to come for 1997/8, West would be back fit and team up with Griffiths and McGleish, top scorer Inglethorpe should see a full season from midfield, everything looked promisingly enough to place a wager with Ladbrookes. Orient bought out Riches contract so that solved one question.

Plenty of ex O’s were given free transfers amongst were:Glen Cockerill, Lee Harvey, Greg Berry, Keith Houchen, Danny Carter, Mark Cooper. Alvin Martin was given the managers job at Southend and Pat Holland joined Millwall as assistant manager to Billy Bonds.

As part of the Hearn plan Orient only arranged two home friendlies with Spurs and Arsenal. Over 25000 people saw these matches so some cash found its way into the bank account. We lost both matches.

The opening match of the (9 Aug away at Cardiff 10) season started without Inglethorpe through injury and Griffiths though suspension. The team: Hyde, Channing, Naylor, Smith, Hicks, Clark, Ling, Warren, McGleish, West, Morrison. Morrison got injured within the opening five minutes and was replaced with Joseph, was that a wise move replacing a winger with a defender? especially with other wingers (Richards, Baker) on the bench?  Despite having 90% of the play in the first half we failed to score though a pin-point cross from West saw McGleish’s header well saved and a shot bounce off the head of the goalkeeper into touch. After 15 minutes of the second half Hicks was taken off. He was not fully fit we were told, why play him at all then? Warren dropped back into defence. We lost to a soft goal.

The 1st round of the Coca-Cola (13 Aug) Cup against Brighton was played at Gillingham as Brighton no longer had a ground of their own. The 50p programme was a classic and showed  Orient as playing two number sixes. The team as per programme was 1 Hyde, 2 Channing, 3 Smith, 4 Martin, 5 there was no 5, 6 McCarthy, 6 Shearer, 7 Garland, 8 Ling, 9 Griffiths 10 Inglethorp (their spelling) 11 Baker 12 Hanson, 13 Martin (again!), 14 Arnott. Martin had not been a player for us for 10 months and three other players were no longer with the club. The real team: Hyde, Channing, Naylor, Smith, Hicks, Joseph, Ling, Warren, McGleish, West, Griffiths. A headed goal from Griffiths gave us the lead before we gave away a penalty to allow Brighton to draw level. Only 870 Brighton fans bothered to turn up on  a ground that was only half  open. Orient supporters made up the gate to 1073.

With great things expected from the first away league game of the season (16 Aug)we lost 1-0 to Scunthorpe thanks to a mistake by Warren. A penalty and a sending off in the first five minutes did Rochdale (23 Aug home) no favours. Their captain Leonard got sent off in the second half after two bookable offences and  a second penalty was given away in the closing minutes. Smith scored both penalties to become top scorer. Team: Hyde, Joseph, Naylor, Smith, Hicks, Clark, Ling, Warren, Griffiths, McGleish, Richardson.

In midweek (26 Aug) the game went our way against Brighton in the Coca-Cola Cup to earn a game against Bolton in the next round, the first time we had been in round two since 1991. Once again Griffths scored only for Brighton to draw level. This  time goals from McGleish and a late one from Baker saw us through. It was reported that both Howes and Morrison would be out for the season. Taylor tried to sign Richard Harvey from Luton but reported “We cannot afford him”.

It was Brighton again (30 Aug) in the league (back at Gillingham) and by this time the Seagulls must have been sick of Griffiths as he scored his third goal of the season against them. We very nearly gave them a equaliser when a long throw eluded Hyde and went into the net, result - goal kick. Steve Gritt was not a happy bunny. Another new face appeared in the side, that of Lee Cokin on loan from Northampton. We were placed at 13th with Exeter top. Doncaster were our next opponents, they were bottom having scored one goal and had no points.

Despite being a goal down at half time (2 Sept) we came back to win 1-4 thanks to a hat trick from Clark and one from Griffiths. Out came the record books,  when had we last won two away game on the trot and the last time we won three on the trot. Brighton and Doncaster were the bottom two clubs. Were we in a false position?

The answer would have appeared to be yes as we crashed to our second home defeat. Taylor must take full blame for fielding a team of midgets up front against what looked like three basketball players, on of which was ex O Colin Foster and he scored Cambridge’s (5 Sept) second goal as we went down 0-2. Only when Baker and West came on did we look anything likely to score, the passing was appalling.

Table toppers Exeter were the next visitors (13 Sept) and they got knocked off the top thanks to a lovely goal from Griffiths made by Ling. Ling had one of his better games and was the supporters man of the match in the clubroom later.

The Coca Cola club match against Bolton (16 Sept at home) ended with them winning the leg 1-3 thanks to an awful first 20 minutes. One daily said we could have had 13 goals. Baker was our lone scorer.

If we looked like scoring 13 on Tuesday night we looked like letting 13 in the following Saturday (20 Sept away to Peterboro) afternoon as we went down two nil inside 20 minutes. another ex O in Steve Castle scored the first. It took Taylor 27 mins to realise Richards was not going to do any kind of job and replaced him with... you might have thought a forward but no on came Joseph. We could have had West on except he had been loaned to Northampton.

During the week Taylor went out and bought Linger from Charlton and Harris from Crystal Palace. McGleish was linked with a £50,000 move to Barnet. He did not play at Swansea (27 Sept) nor did Linger. Hicks returned from injury as Clark scored to give us a point. Cokin, Baker and Josepth were the subs. Team: Hyde, Channing, Naylor, Smith, Hicks, Clark, Ling, Warren, Griffiths, Harris, Inglethorpe. We were 15th in the table with 13 points. 

30 Sept away to Bolton in the League Cup 4-4 Team:P Hyde, M Warren, D Naylor, D Smith, S Hicks, S Clark, M Ling, J Baker (J Channing, 60), C Griffiths, J Harris (L Colkin, 74), A Inglethorpe (R Joseph, 74).

Newcomers to the Football League Macclesfield were two points and nine places above us.

We outplayed them and led by a goal from Griffiths, from a throw in he lobbed a hopeful kick over his shoulder which went over the keeper and into to the back of the net. It has to be said that they were physical though the only booking was for throwing the ball away. Hicks went off in the first half with a neck problem, Harris went off in the second after being bundled into the advertising hording and went home sporting six stitches in a head wound. We let in a late goal. Hanson was loaned to Dover and McGleish was sold to Barnet for £70,000.

If we were unlucky against Macclesfield then the same cannot be said of the match against Rotherham where we were horrendous. We went a goal down thanks to a deflection, it drizzled with rain all day.  Some the crowd started doubting Taylor’s managerial ability when he took off Harris, the only one who looked like scoring, and replaced him with Joseph, on came Baker followed by youth teamer Williamson, I made that 21 players used so far and Linger had not yet played. Griffiths was up against a seven foot Alvin Martin lookalike so of course we pumped high balls toward him. Finally we kept it on the ground and Griffiths on the edge of the area hit a long curling shot past the keeper into the far corner of the net. Griffths got the Man of the Match vote in the supporters club but I suspect only for the goal, nobody else deserved even one vote.

At Torquay a goal by Harris was equalled in the last minute to give us our fifth draw on the trot. Was there to be a sixth draw? Certainly not! We lost two nil at home to Colchester. To say we were bad would be an understatement. We were drawn at Hendon in the FA Cup. Griffiths started a three match ban. Taylor signed two non contract players, Regis from Barnsley and McKenzie from Hereford. We lost away to Lincoln one nil. Hanson returned from Dover to be replaced there by Ayrinde.

After eight games without one we won at home against Scunthorpe. Inglethorpe got two and Harris the other. “We are not getting the rub of the green” said Hyde in the Evening Standard before he let one in three minutes after kickoff. It was reported that Winston may be out for the season.

Smith scored the only goal of the match at home against Chester, he go another (Griffiths also scored) in the 2-2 draw away in the FA Cup to Hendon. By all accounts it was a bad game, I was at a beer festival in Antwerp. 

Notts County were third in the table and we drew 1-1  as Harris bundled the ball into the net following a free kick from Ling. Colin West had not been playing for some weeks so the negative section of supporters had too boo someone else, they fancied Naylor.

Just when you think things cannot get worse they do. For the second successive season we went out of the FA Cup at home to non league opposition. Hendon won 0-1 in a diabolical match which had the fans chanting for the board and Taylor to resign. Two days later I had a call from a friend saying it was on the internet that Taylor had resigned, strange I thought, as in the Standard the previous evening that Taylor reported he was after Colin Simpson from Hendon and a midfielder from Northampton. Apparently some joker had also placed a message on the internet that proported to be from Hearne’s missus to say he would not be at the match but would be shopping with her. Ayrinde joined Dover on a free transfer. 

McGleish scored his fifth goal for Barnet our next opponents, Taylor wanted to sign David Rennie from Northampton in time for the game.

and here I gave up.