He’s playing for the craziest club but Jay Simpson is the nation’s top scorer!

JAY SIMPSON recalls the moment Leyton Orient’s players were told they would not be going home after a defeat at Hartlepool.

The League Two side had lost 3-1 live on Sky and, while on the coach back from the North East, the players were informed they would not be returning to their families but checking into an Essex hotel.

‘I’ve never experienced something like that,’ says Simpson. ‘A lot of players have children and to explain to your partner that “I’m on my way back, but now I’ve got to go to a hotel”, is not nice. The players were really not happy.’

A week-long stay at the Waltham Abbey Marriott last November — revealed by Sportsmail — was a bizarre attempt by Orient’s Italian owner Francesco Becchetti to halt a run of two wins in 12 games.

Under orders, manager Ian Hendon and assistant Andy Hessenthaler checked in — but their top scorer did not. ‘I went home,’ admits former Arsenal and West Brom striker Simpson. ‘I said I’ve got children — I can’t just say to my missus I’m not coming home. I’ve got responsibilities. In the end, they gave me permission to go. I came in for meetings but, as a professional, I thought it was quite odd. It’s not a dig at my team-mates, but I don’t think any other dressing room I’ve been in would have stayed there.

‘No-one really knew what was going on. The boys went the first night and got the PFA involved to see what steps they should take. They got their heads down and stayed in the hotel.

‘For the owner, it’s something that’s usually done in Italy, but in England it’s unheard of. I don’t think it was a punishment. I think itwas it was trying to keep the lads together.’ A surreal week culminated in Simpson (left) scoring twice to see off York, celebrating his first by mimicking handcuffs with his wrists.

This season, the 27-year-old has hit 20 goals in 26 games — more than anyone else in the top four divisions — to become the first Orient player since Peter Kitchen in 1978 to net 20 league goals in

a campaign. His achievement is a rare highlight for supporters, who have seen their club relegated and suffer numerous off-field troubles in the last 18 months.

Becchetti, who bought the club in July 2014, was last week given a six-game stadium ban and fined £40,000 by the FA for kicking Hessenthaler after the Boxing Day win over Portsmouth. He will have a hearing in May to determine if he is extradited to Albania over fraud and money-laundering charges.

With Hendon sacked on Saturday and Hessenthaler asked to take temporary charge, Becchetti is on to his sixth manager in 16 months.

It is a far cry from when Simpson arrived in east London at a club aiming for the Championship. He returned from a spell at Buriram United in Thailand in 2014 to an Orient side who had lost on penalties in the League One play-off final.

But by December relegation loomed and former Italy midfielder Fabio Liverani, the fourth manager of the season, could not speak English. ‘I don’t know if he was a good manager or not but I just couldn’t understand him,’ says Simpson. ‘It was a hard time.’

He only started three times for Liverani but now Simpson is in the form of his life. He says: ‘The best advice I’ve tried to take with me was from (Emmanuel) Adebayor.

‘He always said no matter what, hit the target. If you miss the target, it’s a 100 per cent chance you won’t score. If you hit the target 10 times the keeper might make one mistake and it’s a goal.’

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