Orient Will Be Back Just Like Hereford

Leyton Orient could drop out of the Football League today if they fail to defeat Hartlepool.

And, according to Oliver Holt writing in the Daily Mail, much of the blame will be put on owner Francesco Becchetti.

"He has exhibited a callous disregard for the hopes and fears of the loyal fans of a club with a proud 136-year history," says Holt.

But clubs do rise up again, for example Hereford FC.

'So if Orient go down, they will find it is less of an ending and more of a new beginning. Non-League is not a void at all. Non-League football actually represents a rich and vibrant part of our football culture and as the Premier League moves out of the reach of many ordinary people, non-League offers a welcome glimpse of the way the game used to be.

'Look at teams like Lincoln City and how they are rising again. Look at success stories like FC United and Salford City. Look at the emotion and the community spirit that has fired the rebirth of Hereford United as Hereford FC and the way the club are rising through the divisions.

'It is a joy to visit Edgar Street again now and see the transformation the fans have wrought since they were liberated from the yoke of the owners, who dragged them into oblivion when they were wound up in 2014. Out of that despair, the joy of supporting your club has emerged again.

'People like Becchetti think they can destroy our clubs but they can’t. They can damage them temporarily. They can drag them down, starve them of investment and they can get them relegated.

'But they will always fail because they cannot take a club’s soul. That is the lesson of Hereford, it is the lesson of Stockport County and Lincoln City. And it will be the lesson of Leyton Orient too.'

 

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