East London's Finest --> A Leyton Orient Story

[plinie19]

Founded in 1881 as Eagle Cricket Club, Leyton Orient F.C. are the second oldest Football League club based in London and 24th oldest Football League club. However, the O's have not found much success in recent times, having just barely survived relegation from League 1 last year.

Notable Former Players: Nicky Shorey, Glenn Roeder, & Jabo Ibehre
Rivals: Southend, Millwall, Tottenham, & Dagenham & Redbridge
Stadium: Birsbane Road (9271 all seated)

Leyton Orient Sack Williams, Hire Gainza
In a shock move today the board of Leyton Orient have sacked upstart manager Geraint Williams and hired relative unknown, J.P. Gainza. Williams had joined the O's on February 5, 2009 and proceeded to save the O's from relegation. However, with rumors of a takeover of the current board of directors, Leyton Orient have decided to bring a fresh face to the world of football management. Gainza has no previous management experience and was a semi-pro player in the United States having never played professionally or for the national team. Gainza hopes to bring glory to Brisbane Road for the first time since the O's gained promotion back to League football in 2005/06


Key Players:
Tamika Mkandawire

Ben Chorley

Jonathan Tehoue

Gainza Announces Season Goals
New Leyton Orient manager, J.P. Gainza, has announced his personal goals for this season today at a press conference at Brisbane Road. Gainza is expecting a Md-table finish this season and would like to reach the 2nd Round of the Carling Cup as well as the 3rd round of the FA Cup. Furthermore, Gainza would like to develop players within the O's current set up while also bringing in some fresh faces to promote a competitive environment in the locker room. To achieve this the current board has given Gainza a transfer budget of $165,000. Though thought to be a small transfer budget Gainza has expressed his feelings that this will not effect how he will spend this transfer window.

This is my first story attempt so I am sorry if it is off to a bleak start. I have all the major European countries loaded to the lowest possible league as well as the USA, Portugal and USA are View Only. I created my own 10.3 England database that has opened up England to level 9. I also have a file that makes Croatia and Serbia EU nations. I am using Dan's Training for both Seniors and Youth and I am using Raiken's Tactic Pack (mostly the 4-4-2 counter home and away) I plan on sticking with this so I hope you enjoy. Any feedback/criticisms/comments are welcome!!

 

[Deleted member 79730]

good luck mate

 

[plinie19]

Gainza Announces New Signings
New Leyton Orient manager J.P. Gainza wasted little time diving into the transfer market in his first foray signing 9 new O's for the start of the season. The biggest name joining the O's is Serbian international Dejan Stankovic (DLC) on a free. Joining Stankovic on frees were youngsters David Williams (ST) and Jordan Hatton (AMC) as well as promising Indonesia youngster Ifran Bachdim (AMC). The only player Gainza has used his $165,00 transfer budget on is Iceland international Eyjolfur Hedinsson (MC) who was purchased from GAIS of Sweden for $120,000. With a small portion of his budget left Gainza opted to bring in 4 players on loan until the end of the season. Japanese center half Yuki Hayashi and winger Hal Robson-Kanu (AMRL, ST) have joined the O's from Championship sides Plymouth and Reading, while American fullback Eric Lichaj (DR) and Norwegian center mid and set piece specialist Magnus Eikrem have joined from Premeirship sides Aston Villa and Manchester Untied. As of now no further transfers are expected from the new manager, but do not count the American out just yet.
Gainza is hoping that these new signings will lift the mood at Brisbane Road and also lift Leyton Orient to a mid-table finish this season.
" Dejan, Hal, Eric, Magnus, Eyjolfur, and Ifran will all have a great opportunity to come here and start. Each player can bring something new and exciting to this squad and I am hoping each player can find their form and produce for us. I am hoping Yuki can come and provide us with a capable defender on our bench. I am not expecting Yuki to come here and be the best defender in the squad. We have two very good central defenders in Chorley and Tamika, so it will be hard for Yuki to unseat either of these two. However, injuries and suspension can happen in the blink of an eye and it is good to have depth in your squad. David and Jordan will not feature this year in the first team. At just 16 years of age Jordan has signed a youth contract and will join the under-18's soon. I am hoping to loan David to either the best team available or a feeder team if the board finds a sufficient applicant."
Leaving the O's will be Luke Ashworth and Harry Baker. Both young player have agreed to 6 month loan deal. Ashworth's loan will be at Blue Square side Oxford and Baker will play 6 months with Harrow.
It is also rumored that Gainza is shopping $130,000 rated AMCR Sean Thompson. The Irish man seems to be surplus to Gainza's plans, especially with the signing of 3 players who can play in the center of midfield. However, interest from other clubs at the moment is light as it seems no one wants to pay more than $375,000 for the player. Gainza is said to be looking for a deal in excess of $500,000 for Thompson.

 

[Luke]

Do you know what the exchange rate in the game is ie You paid $120k for a player but what is that amount in £ ?

 

[plinie19]

Do you know what the exchange rate in the game is ie You paid $120k for a player but what is that amount in £ ?

The current exchange rate is .659 GBP to 1.000 USD. Using that I paid roughly £ 180,000 for him

 

[plinie19]

Pre-season Results and Thoughts
Leyton Orient 4 - 1 O's Reserves
J.P. Gainza was relatively pleased with this result as the team played well together for the first time with the new tactics. Young Cypriot Jason Demitrou was on target twice for the O's as they outclassed their Reserves for most of the match. At halftime, Gainza made multiple changes at halftime and chemistry dropped considerably as the first team only managed one more goal and gave a up a rather easy effort from outside the box slipped past back up keeper Moore
MoM - Demitoru 2(16,40) 9.30

Orient 4 - 0 Kettering
Another straight forward game saw the O's jump out to an early 2-0 after only 19 minutes. After that the defense did its job and did not allow Kettering even a sniff of goal. Key stat --> Orient 22 shots to 8
MoM - Daniels (6) 9.10

Leyton Orient 3 - 2 Doncaster
A close call for the O's in this one. Tehoue gave the O's a dream start scoring in the 1st minute. The Doncaster had more control and the O's got stuck defending for a long time. Doncaster equalized in the 35th and then took the lead in the 47th. New signing Yuki Hayashi got on the mark in the 64th and Jimmy Smith completed the comeback in the 74th. Good defense stifled any hope Doncaster had of a late equalizer
MoM - Hedinsson 7.40

Leyton Orient 1 - 1 Aldershot
The only poor result of the pre-season simply saw the O's outworked by their opponents. Young winger Loick Pires scored for the O's but that was the only bright spot.
MoM - Pires (33) 7.50

Leyton Orient 1 - 0 Rotherham
Another poor game from the O's, but this time they did enough to see off their opponent. Loanee Robson-Kanu scored his first of the pre-season and equal possession saw a boring game at Brisbane Road
MoM - Mkandawire 7.20

Leyton Orient 4 - 0 Methyr
The O's bounced back from two poor performances to see off a over matched Methyr side. A 6th minute penalty was converted by McGleish and centerback Ben Chorley added 2 goals of his own. An easy win for the O's
MoM - Chorley (17,70) 9.3

Leyton Orient 5 - 0 Institute
Orient's Biggest win of the pre-season saw another mismatch in favor of the O's. Demitrou was stellar again as he netted his 4th and 5th of the pre-season. Another great defensive effort saw as shutout for Orient
MoM - Demitrou (9,44) 9.50

Leyton Orient 1 - 0 Hibernian
Arguably the biggest win for the O's in the pre-season. Leyton Orient outclassed Hibs the entire night. McGleish finally go the goal that the O's rightfully deserved in the process. Pires and David Williams picked up minor injuries during the game
MoM - McGleish (66) 7.00

* The O's also beat GH Academy 3-0. Tehoue had a hat trick for Orient

 

[Deejayseesee]

The current exchange rate is .659 GBP to 1.000 USD. Using that I paid roughly £180,000 for him

You got your numbers the wrong way around. $120,000 would be about £74,000.

 

[MisterStubbs]

"WE HATE, ORIENT"!

never the less, good luck pal

 

[plinie19]

You got your numbers the wrong way around. $120,000 would be about £74,000.

Never was any good at math. Oh well, even better for me then!!

Update coming tomorrow, US time , expect Starting 11 and board news

 

[plinie19]

Gainza Announces Starting 11

With just a week until the new Football League 1 season starts, new Leyton Orient manager J.P. Gainza has announced his starting 11 for his debut game at The memorial Stadium against Bristol Rovers.

Starting in goal will be Jamie Jones. Jones has been the first choice net minder for a couple of seasons and Gainza has no vision of changing that any time soon. "We only gave up 2 goals this pre-season and both keepers allowed 2. However, the team played more confidently with Jamie in the net, and the goals he gave up had more class than the 2 that Glenn allowed."

The back four will consist of new O Dejan Stankivic at LB, Ben Chorley and Tamika Mkandawire at CB, and Andrew Cave-Brown at RB. "Ben and Tamika's jobs were never at risk. Their play has Ben stellar all pre-season and they have earned their spots. Dejan came in and had a lingering knee injury that stunted his play early, but he has fully recovered and will be at 100% for the opener. Andrew is the more experienced of our current RB's. Eric will get a chance to play in rotation with Andrew and if one of them get a full grasp on the position it will be theirs."

In midfield we see our first big shock to the Starting 11. Longtime O Sean Thornton is not in the Starting 11 after spending the last 2 years there. Demitrou will start at LM, new signing Eyjolfur Hedinsson will play in the middle with upstart Jimmy Smith, and loanee Hall Robson-Kanu will start at RM. "This was honestly the toughest decision I had to make. Sean is a good player but he just doesn't fit into what I want to do right now. Teams like Ipswich and Yeovil have expressed interest and we are shopping him around. Jimmy will start, for now. Ifran picked up a knock in training and may not be fit for the Bristol Rovers game so Jimmy will get an opportunity. Eyjolfur came in here and worked his **** off. He has been a rock in the midfield in the games we have played and earned his spot. Jason is still young an learning, but so far I am pleased with what I have seen. his versatility is a plus. Hal has just outplayed any other right sided player."

Up front, pre-season leading scorer Jason Tehoue will partner Scott McGleish. "Both of these men proved to me that they can score, and that is what I will be expecting with this season quickly approaching. "I feel like our strike force can be something special this year. Jason showed me he can create for himself and others and Scotty has been the ultimate opportunist. These two will hopefully be on form for most of the season. Roman Patulea will get some time as well. I also will be looking in the transfer market for some added depth here."

In other news, Leyton Orient have drawn an away tie with fellow League 1 side Southhampton in round 2 of the Carling Cup. Gainza has made it clear that his goal is to reach at least the 3rd round of this tournament and maybe go beyond that. This game will be a good test for the O's if they want to make a good cup run.

Also, chairman Barry Hearn announced that he is looking to sell the club as soon as he can. Hearn stated that he no longer wants to run the East London club and that his resignation had nothing to do with club finances. J.P. Gainza has not said much about this but he has noted that this resignation has out a wrench in his current plan to find a lower league affiliate for the O's and to find a higher level affiliate as well. More on this story as it develops.