Where has the summer break gone? With the 2025/26 season getting underway tomorrow with the O’s away at Huddersfield (where we ended the last league campaign), let’s take stock of how the O’s are shaping up ahead of the big kick-off.

Departures and Arrivals

When the club (finally) released the retained list at the beginning of June, it provided a stark realisation of how much work was going to be needed over the summer to fill the gaps in the squad.

Obviously we knew in advance that: Josh Keeley, Jamie Donley, Jack Currie and Dilan Markanday would be returning to their parent clubs at the end of their loans, however to discover that Jayden Sweeney and Darren Pratley were to be released (albeit with the latter being retained in a new coaching role), and that somewhat unsurprisingly Randell Williams wasn’t going to be offered a new deal, made it very plain just how thin our squad was looking.

At that time we had just 14 first team squad members under contract with some of those being youngsters who will make up the new Under 21 squad. It was also fairly obvious that Ethan Galbraith would be off to pastures new once a fee was agreed with Swansea City. We were also in contract discussions with Jack Simpson, Dan Agyei, Dom Ball and Omar Beckles. Agyei and Ball were ultimately to depart but we managed to agree new deals with Beckles and Simpson.

The news of new recruits came in a fairly steady flow throughout the close season, with the first to be announced being young goalkeeper Killian Cahill joining on a two-year deal after the expiration of his contract with Brighton & Hove Albion. Cahill is a Republic of Ireland international and seems to have a similar profile to Josh Keeley when he first arrived.

A few days later we got the announcement of our second new arrival in the form of a player whom a lot of Orient fans will remember from a spectacular goal he scored against us for Exeter in September 2021, Demetri Mitchell. Mitchell has had his fair share of injury problems, specifically an ACL injury that severely impacted his time at St James Park. Originally coming through the academy at Manchester United, there is clearly a talented player there, and he has certainly made something of an impact at least with his social media profile so far.

The next new addition to be announced was 22-year old right back/ midfielder Michael Craig coming in from Reading for an undisclosed fee. At just 22, Craig made 60 league appearance for the Royals and seems like a very promising acquisition, although a few injury niggles have inhibited his playing time in pre-season.

Later on the same day came the formal confirmation of Ethan Galbraith’s departure, although that news was tempered somewhat by the announcement that a certain Idris El Mizouni was “coming home”. In a “club record transfer” no less! While Galbraith will obviously be massively missed, and in an ideal world it would have been absolutely fantastic to have the pair operating together, Idris’ return just feels right for the club and for him as a player. He was immense for us in his previous loan spells, and it feels very much as if we have a future club captain in the making, lest we forget he of course took the armband in the past while still only a temporary player.

Jordan Brown’s non-involvement in the first pre-season fixture at Brentwood of course started the rumour mill going, and sure enough it was to turn out that he was off to Blackpool. I have to be honest at this juncture and say that I have always held Browny in huge regard. He may not have been the most spectacular player, although his goal against Charlton in the latter half of last season was pretty special, but he was a consistently solid performer. The sort of player that you miss when he isn’t there as we did against Stockport in the first leg of the play-off semi-final. While it will seem strange seeing Jordan in a different coloured shirt, I am sure the vast majority of Orient fans would wish him all the very best for the future, except of course on the occasions when he lines up against us!

At the same time as we were waiting for confirmation of Brown’s departure, the club announced that we had signed a new striker, Aaron Connolly, who can boast 9 full international caps for the Republic of Ireland, alongside 52 appearances for Premier League Brighton & Hove Albion. Connolly has spoken publicly about his problems with alcohol addiction and the impact that has had on his career. With a similar work-rate based approach to Charlie Kelman, and an eye for goal, we can only hope that he can put his past struggles behind him and fulfil the potential that led to Brighton giving him his debut aged just 17.

Next to join, presumably with a view to filling the gap in central midfield left by Pratley and Brown, was Tyreeq Bakinson from Wycombe Wanderers, someone apparently that Richie Wellens wanted to bring in ahead of last season, but we were beaten to the signature by Wycombe. I have to be honest I don’t remember a lot about Bakinson from our two meetings with the Chairboys last season, and he seemed to struggle for game time once Mike Dodds replaced the departed Matt Bloomfield as manager. Still, Bakinson can point to significant experience in the Championship and at the top end of League 1 and seems like a sensible and welcome addition to our midfield engine room.

After that came the news of another old boy coming home in the form of Josh Koroma. Despite the fact that Josh came through our academy and played a key role in the National League title- winning side, his signing seems to have been met with something of a mixed reaction among the Orient fanbase. It’s probably fair to say that he hasn’t quite reached the level he had hoped after joining Huddersfield, although 33 goals from 156 appearances isn’t too shabby a return by any means. At 26 and after being away for 6 years, maybe the reset will do him good. Although of course Dan Happe is the only player left in the squad who played with Josh.

When we got the announcement of our second new goalkeeper joining in the form of Tommy Simkin from Stoke City, it came as something of a surprise that it was another loanee with Richie and the club having stressed in the not too distant past that ideally they wanted permanent signings between the sticks. Simkin played 40 times for Walsall in League 2 last season, keeping 14 clean sheets, and was involved in the England Under 21 squad that won the European Championships during the summer. It feels very much at this early stage that Simkin will be the first choice ahead of Killian Cahill.

No sooner had the announcement been made that Tayo Adaramola was joining on loan from Crystal Palace, than he was starting at left back against Watford. Obviously he had very little time to get used to his new teammates and our style of play, but he looked lively going up and down the left flank, and he certainly has a cross on him. 

At the start of this week came the announcement that young midfielder Joe White was coming in on loan from Newcastle United. At 22 this will be White’s fifth loan spell, the most recent having seen him appear in 35 matches for MK Dons last season, scoring 6 times and providing 2 assists. While it has been suggested that he is comfortable in any of the central midfield positions, he seems to have been mainly deployed as a Number 10.

At the time of writing the arrival of highly rated midfielder Jack Moorhouse from Manchester United was all but confirmed, but it seems like another very intriguing and exciting loanee has been entrusted to Richie and the club, having seen how other young players have developed during their time in E10.

Whether there are to be any more additions (or even departures) before the end of the month remains to be seen, although speaking on the Orient Hour on Wednesday evening the gaffer was pretty clear that we need another striker as we can’t assume that Aaron Connolly is going to play every minute of every game. 

The Gaffer’s New Contract

Even before all of the activity in the transfer market, the club made perhaps the biggest signing of the summer when it was announced in June that Richie Wellens had signed a new three-year contract. While there had been murmurings of interest from elsewhere, (why wouldn’t there be, given all he has achieved in his time with us?) I was always hopeful that moving his family down south last summer, and the continuing upward trajectory of the club would convince him to put pen to paper again. While I am sure his talents appeal to a number of Championship clubs, there is also a realistic chance he might make it to the second tier with Orient in the not too distant future.

Pre-Season Results

Pre-season always feels like a bit of a phoney war. The games are of course vital preparation for the new season, but it is difficult to draw any firm conclusions from the results given the staggered arrival of the new recruits and the number of trialists and young players that tend to be involved.  

It all got underway at Brentwood just 5 weeks after we had been at Wembley. The match itself was the very definition of a pre-season runout. Still it was great to be back watching the O’ strolling to a comfortable 5-0 victory. The most memorable moment probably came at the end of the match when Brentwood’s right back jumped over the pitch side fence to remonstrate with some younger Orient fans who had been giving him a load of stick for most of the second half. What was that about friendlies?

After a bit of criticism about the level of opposition for the regular trip to Spain in the past, this time Cypriot top division side Pafos were selected, who were also involved in qualifying rounds of the Champions League. Work commitments and the timing of the kick-off meant I couldn’t watch it, but from all accounts it provided a suitably challenging test, although the O’s lost 1-0.

The following Wednesday I was actually live on the Orient Hour while the match against Welling was taking place. One of the show’s presenters, Rich, was able to keep us updated with the first half goals as Orient ran out 10-0 victors.

Faced with the choice of two (sort of) local matches at the same time the following weekend we opted for Barnet as we have a couple of friends who live relatively nearby and fancied coming to watch the match. The absolutely torrential rain should have given us a clue, as should the fact that the kick-off was pushed back a couple of times, but in the end that match was called off only to then be played behind closed doors, Orient losing 2-0. I have to say it was a new one on me, but we should have definitely gone to Ebbsfleet where the other half of the squad won 4-1.

Things got a little bit more serious for the next two warm-up matches with the JE3 Cup match against Tottenham Under 21’s followed by the visit of Championship Watford. As always the results of these matches don’t really matter, although a 3-1 win over the Spurs youngsters and a 1-1 draw against the Hornets were decent enough and also provided a hint at what our starting eleven might look like tomorrow afternoon at the Kirklees Stadium.

We concluded our pre-season schedule with a 3-1 victory at non-league Waltham Abbey with a team made up largely of younger players; although it was noticeable that all of: Brandon Cooper, Jack Simpson and Diallang Jaiyesimi also featured. Is there anything to be read into that?

Hopes for 2025/26

In many ways this season feels just as hard to predict as last season, if not harder. Last term it was fairly obvious that unless they messed things up completely, Birmingham were the runaway favourites to win the league, and that Wrexham would most likely be their closest challengers.

This time although Luton Town have very recently been in the Premier League and as a result continue to benefit from the infamous parachute payments, it just feels like it is going to be a bit closer at the top, with a number of teams challenging. Cardiff and Plymouth will both be targeting an immediate return to the second tier, whilst Stockport will have undoubtedly felt aggrieved when we knocked them out of the play-offs on penalties after such a strong campaign and will surely be in and around the promotion places again this time around.

Wycombe started last season well but then seemed to drop off, while the now financially stable Reading, who we pipped to 6^th spot last season, will surely be a team to be reckoned with. Others such as Blackpool, Huddersfield and Bolton will also most likely be in the mix as well. 

For our part, just like last season, we will be bedding in a significant number of new players, although there does seem to have been something of a change in approach with less loanees and more permanent signings on longer term deals. Last time out I think we can all agree that after a worrying start, in the end we probably overachieved in making it all the way through to Wembley.

Whether we can match or even better that will depend very much on how quickly the first eleven and squad gel. With a start to the season that sees us face the likes of Huddersfield, Stockport, Plymouth, Bolton, Reading and Cardiff, we are going to need it to. However if we can find some decent results before we hit the autumn then there is every reason to believe that we may well be there or thereabouts again. Personally I simply can’t wait for it all to get underway again tomorrow afternoon.

Up the O’s!