Tuesday night sees the visit of the surprise team of the season in
League One – or perhaps any league, and any season – when ex-Yeovil manager Russell
Slade brings Leyton Orient to Ashton Gate.
A mere 80-or-so places separate the two clubs if form in all of
2013 is taken into account across all four divisions, and whilst City have
largely floundered, been relegated and struggled to adapt, the O’s have put a
remarkable run together, coming close to ambushing the play off party last
season, whilst being seemingly unstoppable this time around.
Their success has been put down to stability and consistency, something
which as we’re finding out is easy to say when things are going well, less easy
to stick to if they’re going wrong, but another tale to draw on for those who
insist longevity and a settled management team are key to long-term success.
Stu Radnedge picks up the story with Matt Simpson, author of a
book on Leyton Orient’s greatest players and the man who runs the O’s blog, View from the West Stand.
There can't be any other first question than to
ask about the O's league form. Sprinting to the top of the table since the
season began. What's gone so well at Brisbane Road?
In all my dark, soul-destroying
years of supporting Orient I've never seen a squad with such spirit, resilience
and talent. In years past when we went 1-0 down I expected us to go on to
lose 3-0. Then we'd actually lose 5-0. Now even if we do go behind I always
think we’ll come back and win – as we did against MK Dons, Peterborough and
Swindon. Our defence is solid; our midfield has grit and creativity; and we’ve
got three strikers (Lisbie, Mooney and Batt) who are in incredible form and
scoring regularly. Either that or evil alien dopplegangers have replaced the
entire team.
Orient – perhaps surprisingly to many – finished seventh
last season, so was there any disappointment that you didn't make the
play-offs?
Not really – we
had a typically appalling start to the season so even when we climbed the table
post-Christmas the play-offs always felt a little out of reach.
With last season’s good finish in mind, are you
surprised to have made such a great start?
Even the most
delusionally positive fans couldn’t have imagined a start this great –
especially given how atrociously we’ve started the last six seasons. But on the
other hand this form is really a continuation of the latter half of last
season. In fact, if you look at our record for 2013, we are statistically the
best football team on the entire planet. Probably.
We're edging closer to the halfway stage in the season now, can you maintain this form and, if not, where do you now think you'll finish?
To be honest it’s going to be extremely tough for us to stay in the top two until the end of the season, given the size of our squad and our budgets compared to the teams around us. However, given the start, and our form, I would now be absolutely gutted if we didn’t at least make the play-offs.
With such a successful start comes attention. I
read an article with your manager Russell Slade, who has attributed this
season's performance to management and stability. Would you agree with this,
and why?
Yes, I’d agree
with anything Russell Slade says at the moment!. He has to take massive credit
for getting us where we are. He’s brought in all but one of the current squad –
without paying a single penny in transfer fees – and has got them working hard
for each other. The stability is important too. Our first game of the season
did not feature a single debutant – which is pretty unusual – and the
first-choice XI has been consistent since about January.
You’ve been involved in a long-running battle over
the use of the Olympic stadium. Do you want
to watch Orient in a stadium that’s 90% empty and would it really be good for
the club and atmosphere?
No one wants to
watch their football team in a half-empty stadium – which is something West Ham
fans will have to get used to since they couldn’t even sell out Upton Park for
their recent derby against Chelsea. But it’s going to be difficult for Orient
to ever really progress in our current 9,000-seater stadium, especially when
West Ham will be literally begging local school-children to come and watch them
half a mile down the road. Imagine we’re in the Championship next season: it
would be very difficult to stay there with such small potential gates. I’m not
sure ground-sharing the Olympic Stadium is the answer, but West Ham being given
taxpayers money to encroach on our potential future fan base is absolutely
scandalous.
What do you think of your chances at Ashton
Gate? Are you fearful of any players, tactics, etc?
I have to say our
chances are good, I’m afraid – our confidence is sky high after the victory
over Swindon on Saturday. In previous seasons we’d always follow an impressive
victory over a top-half team with a loss against one in the bottom, but that
doesn’t seem to have happened yet this campaign. We’ll need to keep an eye on
Emmanuel-Thomas, of course, and it won’t be easy, but I think we’ll prevail.
Just.
What threat do City fans have to be aware of
upon the O's visit to BS3?
Kevin Lisbie and
David Mooney who, according to Iain Dowie, are “the Andy Cole and
Dwight Yorke of League One”. Mooney in
particular has scored some cracking goals in the last few games and Lisbie is a
class act. Dean Cox is our most creative player and young Moses Odubajo on the
right wing is fast and dangerous.
Watch out for
central midfielder Romain Vincelot too – he’s easy to spot because his socks
will be round his ankles. And the beard, I suppose.
My thanks to Matt & Stu, a big test indeed for City where
another defeat would undo all the good work put in over the past few weeks, so fingers crossed...
The Exiled Robin
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