So jut like that another season is over, the final match of our campaign establishing ourselves back in the third tier took us to Shrewsbury. In their infinite “wisdom” the powers that be at the EFL had deigned to make all League One games kick off at 12:30pm, so it meant a very early start for those of us heading up to Shropshire.

When we arrived at Euston ahead of our train, we straight away bumped into Lord Dazza and his travelling companions. Not only was Daz completing his personal challenge of wearing shorts to every away game he attended in 2023/24 in tribute to a friend of his, but in perhaps the most surreal thing we have ever encountered on an awayday he had also secured a delivery from Bettys Tea Rooms in Harrogate(???) which, accompanied with several miniatures of rum, was to be his sustenance for the journey.

We arrived in Shrewsbury just past 10am and set about the not-so-easy challenge of finding a pub that was open at that ridiculously unsociable hour. After some of the usual Google Maps-based fun, we eventually happened upon the Exchange Hotel which was not only open but happy to serve beer. It was a shame that the early kick off meant we didn’t have a lot of time to look round the town as from what we saw of it, it seemed very pleasant. With the ground being around two miles away we (sensibly!) ordered a taxi to take us there, others we know took on the mammoth walk.   

Once we arrived at the ground we headed straight for the Fanzone just outside the away end, which was surprisingly more pleasant than we had anticipated with part of it based in a community garden. While the ground itself is one of those new build out of town ones that are often completely soulless, it was decent enough and the home support’s huge flags and safe standing section at the far end from us created a bit of atmosphere, at least until the match got underway that was.

With nothing riding on the outcome of the match (although not a meaningless game- as the missus learned when she received a stern Mancunian rebuke from the manager’s Dad when she suggested as much!), the atmosphere amongst the 625 (once again another hugely impressive turn out) travelling O’s was pretty relaxed, helped by a number of the younger members coming in all kinds of weird and wonderful fancy dress.

In a change to our usual approach, Richie or possibly Matt Harold who was given control of the team as thank you for all his efforts over his 7 years with the club, opted to pair Dan Agyei with Dan Adu-Adjei up front with Ethan Galbraith operating just behind. It worked a treat as just eight minutes in Agyei fired a low ball across the face of goal for Adu-Adjei to slam home from close range.

When Galbraith made it 2-0 on 24 minutes, receiving a sublime pass from Tom James on the turn and dinking the ball over Marko Marosi in Shrewsbury’s goal, the game was pretty much done and dusted turning the away end into even more of a party zone than it had already been.

Five minutes after the restart Dan Agyei gave us another reminder of just what his injuries have deprived us off for such a large part of the season when Galbraith sent him racing through the inside left channel and he calmly fired past Marosi at his near post.  

As we entered the final quarter of an hour Daniel Udoh beat Jack Simpson to a corner played in and nodded past Sam Howes, who had been given the start presumably due to lack of opportunities over the course of the season. In fairness there was little that Howes could have done about it, and his overall display was pretty solid. The final result of 3-1 saw us finish in eleventh spot much closer to the play-off places than the drop zone, a more than acceptable finish especially given all the injuries we have suffered through the season.

Before the match we had bumped into one of our more recent awayday associates, Nick, along with his daughter Daisy, who very kindly offered us a lift back meaning that we didn’t have to try to sort out a cab or deal with changing trains in Brimingham. Nick if you are reading this your generosity was greatly appreciated, especially as it meant we were pretty much home before our train was due into Euston.

On Sunday we had the very great privilege of attending the Supporters Club’s Star Man Awards at the Prince Regent Hotel in Chigwell. The winners were:

Community Player of the Season/ RainbO’s Award: Adam Thompson

Academy Player of the Season: Makai Welch

Goal of the Season: Rob Hunt   

Player of the Season: Ruel Sotiriou

LOSC Young Player of the Season/ Young Player of the Season: Shaq Forde

LOSC Away Player of the Season: Sol Brynn

LOSC Merit Award: Idris El Mizouni

Manager’s Player of the Season/ Players’ Player of the Season/ LOSC Starman: Ethan Galbraith

A huge congratulations to all the winners and it was a very fun and enjoyable night, however In observance of the rule of “What happens at Star Man, stays at Star Man”, I am of course precluded from revealing any of the details of what went on over the course of the evening, except to say that if one member of the squad was planning on a future career in the fire brigade, he may want to rethink that!

At the beginning of this week the club released its Summer 2024 Retained List, the only real surprise being that Rob Hunt and Adam Thompson were released at the end of their contracts. For Thompson it feels very much as if injuries have curtailed his contribution to the club over recent seasons, however it always felt as if Hunt was something of a Richie Wellens’ favourite. Perhaps the fact that he is similar to Tom James in that they can both play at right or left back, but the Welshman can also cover at centre back if needed and offers more going forward swung the decision. All we can do is to thank both for their efforts and to wish them all the very best for the future.

The list also revealed that contract discussions are underway with: Tom James, Jack Simpson, Dan Happe, Ruel Sotiriou, Darren Pratley and youngster Noah Phillips; while of course the five loanees (Sol Brynn, Idris El Mizouni, Shaq Forde, Dan Adu-Adjei and Khayon Edwards) return to their parent clubs; and a fair chunk of the first team squad (Sweeney, Agyei, Brown, Pigott, Cooper, Howes, Moncur, Beckles, O’Neill, Galbraith, Sanders, Graham, Byrne, Obiero, and Pegrum) remain under contract for at least next season.

Then on Wednesday we got the news that many/all of us had been hoping for, as silly season rumours about a possible switch to Barnsley swirled around social media, it was announced that Richie Wellens had put pen to paper on a new 3-year deal. If you think back to where we were in March 2022 when Richie walked through the door, to where we are now safely in the top half of League 1, this can only be very welcome news and yet another indication that the future of our beloved club looks very positive indeed.  

Up the O’s!