Travis promises no quick fix but lots of hard work as he begins Os rescue act
NIGEL TRAVIS has been in meetings at 5.30am every morning for more than two months working on his plan to rescue Leyton Orient. Travis, chief executive of the Dunkin’ Brands Group, heads a consortium who completed their takeover yesterday but the lifelonglong Orient fan has already spent 10 weeks setting out how to repair thehe damage left by the ownership of Francesco Becchetti (right). .
Travis has heldld meet-meetings and conferenceerence calls with Eagle Invest-nvestments 2017 Limitedmited — a group of inves-vestors from Americaca and the UK — forr seven days a week since April. The 67-year-old is realistic aboutt the size of the challenge in getting Orient back into the Football League following relegation and three years of decline under Becchetti.
But Travis is determined to bring the good times back to a club he has supported for 58 years.
“A lot of work has gone into this and it is all because we love Leyton Orient,” he said. “The club are very close to me. I realised some time ago that someone needed to stestep up and buy the club. This is only stage one. “We have all got a lot of work ahead of us.u It has been going on actuallyactua longer than that butbut wewe have been working at it for 10 weeks, seven or eight of us every singlesin morning workingin on this.
“The fact it has ttakena a long time may actually be a huge benefit because wew know each other insidei out. Now we have to roll our sleeves up, put a lot of hard work in and get building the business and the club for the future.
“We are going to build for the short term but have really got a long-term plan to get the club back to where it was three years ago, which is the Football League.”
Orient are behind on their plans for next season and have just 15 professional players on their books all aged between 17 and 20 with the National League beginning in early August.
Boss Omer Riza is out of contract at the end of the month and an announcement on the manager’s situation is expected soon although today they appointed former boss Martin Ling as director of football.
Season tickets will go on sale in the coming days.
Travis has asked for patience from supporters and knows getting back into the Football League will be difficult.
“We are in a position I never expected us to be in in the National League,” he said. “The National League is very competitive and very few people have got out of it quickly.
“We have got to be realistic and understand that is not going to happen overnight. It took Lincoln seven years. It may not happen first time out so I want everyone to have patience. We will get back there.
“We have got to find a lot of players with experience, we have got no one with experience left.
“But we have got some great youngsters, who have gained experience before their time.
“We have got to build the commercial side as well. But we have been planning this for many months.”
‘Now we have to roll our sleeves up and get building the business and the club for the future’ Nigel Travis