It’s that time already! Is it me or does the gap between the end of the previous season and the start of the new campaign seem to feel shorter each year? It really doesn’t feel that long ago since we were trooping out of Brisbane Road, underwhelmed at how our beloved O’s had only just survived in the third tier for another term. While none of us really want to be reminded of the hugely disappointing season that was 2025/26, can we dare hope for better this time around? 

All change at the Orient (again!) 

Without wanting to rake over old coals, we all know, and Richie Wellens candidly admitted as much at the end of the season, last year’s recruitment was not far short of shambolic. The need to bring in a total of 25 new players, including 9 in the January transfer window alone, was testimony to that. 

Even then, the way that the likes of: Sean Clare, Tyreeq Bakinson, Lemar Gordon, Sonny Perkins and Josh Koroma, were very publicly made “available for transfer” almost as soon as the season was over, suggested that Wellens wasn’t anywhere near happy with how a number of players had performed over the season. Rather concerningly, while we managed to offload Perkins and Koroma, the latter on a season-long loan to Chesterfield (how the “mighty”(sic) have fallen!); at the time of writing the other three remain very much on the books. How will they fit into this season’s squad, if required, after being told they are very much seen as surplus to requirements? 

The (unadmitted by the powers that be at the club) “sacking” of Martin Ling suggested that he was evidently the one being lined up to take the blame for our recruitment failings. However, I for one am not fully buying the notion that Richie didn’t have the final say on all the players coming in, with perhaps the possible exception of the goalkeepers. 

The departure of Dan McLoone at the end of May without any real explanation other than that we were in the final stages of appointing a new Director of Football (didn’t Nigel Travis suggest after Ling’s departure that we weren’t going to have a new one?), might also suggest another person at whom the finger of blame was pointing? 

Just a matter of days later we did get the news that Scott Mitchell, previously Head of Recruitment at Oxford United and Wycombe Wanderers, had been appointed as our new Director of Football. So how is the recruitment looking so far this summer? 

Over the last three seasons since we were promoted to League 1, the significant turnover in players has been a major factor in how we have started each campaign. Even in 2023/24 and 2024/25, which were ultimately pretty successful seasons, it took quite some time for the squad to gel, for Richie to settle on his preferred line-up, and as a result for us to start stringing together positive performances and results. Last season it simply didn’t happen. 

So far this summer, as well as the aforementioned Perkins and Koroma and the loanees returning to their parent clubs, we have seen: Tobi Oluwayemi, Tom James, Jack Simpson, Makai Welch and Diallang Jaiyesimi all leave. They were soon followed through the exit door by Dan Happe who joined Aberdeen, and then somewhat out of the blue Azeem Abdullai joined Hibernian, despite seeming something of a Wellens’ favourite. 

In terms of players coming in, the club seems to have made some astute new signings, in which Scott Mitchell’s fresh approach has undoubtedly had an impact. The new addition so far are: 

– Tony Springett – the left-footed winger was the first new arrival, coming in from Norwich where he had made 34 appearances including 3 in the Premier League. He also had loan spells at Derby County and Northampton. 

– Fin Stevens – a right back signed from German side St Pauli who has two senior international caps for Wales. It was a position in which we desperately needed an addition, although quite where this leaves Michael Craig going forward remains unclear.   

– Armando Dobra – attacking midfielder Dobra was the next to arrive from Chesterfield, where he made 144 appearances across four years with the Spireites, scoring 40 goals. Dobra has also represented Albania at Under-19 and Under-21 level. 

– Nathan Baxter – the experienced permanent goalkeeper that we all knew we needed for at least the past two seasons. Baxter is 27 years old and was originally on the books at Chelsea. He joined Bolton in 2023 where he made 59 appearances before joining Watford last year. His limited number of appearances with the Hornets explains his motivation in joining Orient. 

– Isaac Hayden – the hugely experienced centre midfielder who can also fill in at centre back, arrives after making 30 appearances for QPR last season. Prior to that he made 151 league appearances for Newcastle, the vast majority of which were in the Premier League. Hayden also boasts 15 international caps for Jamaica, was last week confirmed as the club captain, and it can only be hoped that he can (finally!) fill the Jordan Brown/ Darren Pratley-shaped hole in our midfield. 

– Yusuf Akhamrich – the highly-rated winger joined on a season-long loan from Tottenham after impressing at Bristol Rovers last season. If he turns out to be as good as recent loanees from Spurs, then we might have a hell of a player on our hands!

– Joseph Olowu – centre back signed from Stockport County where he made 41 appearances last season. Olowu was originally signed by Richie Wellens for Doncaster Rovers in 2021. 

– Somto Boniface – the 20-year-old England youth international’s signing was confirmed in the build-up to last week’s friendly at Swindon. From what we have seen so far he seems lively going forward, it will be interesting to see how much game time he gets with James Morris the current incumbent at left back. 

– Tariq Al Sadi – signed after training with the club and appearing as a trialist while awaiting a work permit. It looks highly likely that the 20-year-old will go out on loan as soon as a suitable option is found.

While on the whole the new signings look promising, our summer business has been restricted somewhat by not knowing for sure whether we would still have the League 1 Golden Boot winner in our squad for another season. Which leads us onto…

The Dom Ballard Conundrum 

Even though we didn’t want it to happen, I suspect most of us probably knew that it was incredibly likely that Dom Ballard would be lured away by a club from a higher level this summer. All we could hope was that we secured a decent fee with sufficient time to use the money to secure a decent replacement(s) and ideally to further invest in the squad. 

The penny dropped for me on Sunday when Ballard was an unused substitute against Antwerp (I really wasn’t buying the suggestion that he had picked up a knock in the warm-up!). Sure enough, on Tuesday evening came the news that Ballard would be joining Bristol City in a deal reported to be worth up to £5 million.  

While the club must have anticipated that Ballard was always likely to leave, the fact that it took until the beginning of August to be agreed placed it in something of a tricky situation. Firstly, we were unable to bring in the additional couple of forwards that Richie has said that we need in case any deal fell through; secondly, we had to enter the market relatively late with every other club knowing that we had money to spend. However, credit where it’s due, the club had a replacement lined up and have just this morning officially announced the signing of Jaze Kabia from Grimsby for a club record transfer fee paid. 

From what I can gather he is a bona fide goal poacher who, according to Richie Wellens “will bring us pace, power, desire, commitment, work rate, and a big goal threat.” Obviously, he is making a step up in level, has big boots to fill, and will have to deal with the pressure of being our record signing/ Dom Ballard’s replacement, but he seems like a very good option. If he is available to play a part tomorrow, then so much the better! 

Pre-Season Results 

Reading too much into pre-season results is always a redundant exercise. The matches are basically glorified training sessions which are about fitness, helping new arrivals to settle in, and trying to establish a system and effective style of play. The results themselves are largely irrelevant. However, I must admit that some of what we have seen from Orient across these matches has been a bit concerning. 

Obviously, the uncertainty around Ballard hasn’t helped, but there are other areas of the team that can’t be excused by that. The number of sloppy and wholly avoidable defensive errors that we have been making is noticeable. The first half of the Swindon match, when we had very much a first choice back four in the form of: Stevens, Forrester, Olowu and Morris being a particular case in point, although there have been other examples. 

Just like last season there seems to be quite a bit of uncertainty about what our style of play is supposed to be. Richie has gone on record on many occasions previously about how we want to play on the front foot, to be a high pressing team, and to take the game to the opposition; but all too often we tend to revert to safety first, sideways passing football. Admittedly it has been exceptionally warm over recent weeks, but this was a major issue all through last season as well. 

Another area in which we struggled last season was in terms of creativity in the final third. So often we found it difficult to open teams up and create chances for our forwards. There hasn’t been a lot in pre-season to suggest we have solved this problem just yet, but with the arrival of a player like Kabia our attacking midfielders and wide men must focus on giving him the service he will need to thrive. 

Apologies if that sounds a bit doom and gloom. On a positive note, the quality of signings that we have made thus far is promising. If we can use some more of the funds generated by the Ballard transfer to add further quality and depth to the squad, then hopefully we can make a much better start to the season this time around. Having said that, I do think tomorrow’s League Cup tie might just have come a tad too early.  We live in hope though! 

Up the O’s!