Woods so happy to quit madness of Orient express
ASEASON of madness at Leyton Orient makes Gary Woods appreciate that quaint little corners of continuity can be discovered in Scotland. Woods, an on-loan League Cup winner at Ross County last season, has returned north and benefited from injury to Remi Matthews to secure a starting place with Hamilton.
The 26-year-old was initially told by manager Martin Canning that he and Norwich City keeper Matthews were in a straight scrap for the No 1 job at the Superseal Stadium.
And what a refreshing difference that was to life at Leyton Orient, where foreign ownership began to pick the team and upset a club previously so progressive under Barry Hearn.
A year after missing promotion to the Championship on penalties in the PlayOff final, they were relegated to League Two following a wild 2014/15 of upheaval with Italian owner Francesco Becchetti. By December, former Lazio star Fabio Liverani became the fourth manager of a campaign doomed to end badly. ‘Leyton Orient was a strange experience to be involved in,’ said Woods. ‘In a League One club you rarely get an Italian owner with such a strong hold on things. ‘Russell Slade was manager, we started well but then he moved on and we had four or five managers. There was chopping and changing all the time. We probably had one of the strongest squads on paper — excellent players who’d played at a high level. I just think all the changes in a short space of time didn’t have a good effect. ‘We played different ways under different managers. We had an Italian coach who didn’t speak any English. We couldn’t understand him and needed a translator. ‘He can say something and it didn’t always come across in the right way. You shouldn’t let it get to you but I think it did. ‘At one time, the owners were picking the team. I was picked at the start, then things changed. There were some people who’d never been involved in football before. ‘The volume of players coming in and out was unbelievable. And, in the end, there weren’t many happy ones.
‘It’s the only place I’ve not really enjoyed and it was nothing to do with the other lads.
‘The uncertainty of what was happening on a day-to-day basis unsettled the team. It’s something not many players will experience in their career and I hope not to experience it again.’
There are few fears of that stirring at Hamilton where Woods, a former Manchester United academy team-mate of Danny Welbeck and Danny Drinkwater, is set to face Hearts tomorrow.
Accies stood by rookie boss Canning during a desperate start to his managerial career in early 2015 and were rewarded as he comfortably steered them to safety last season.
‘When you’re down south, the Scottish league has a bad reputation,’ said Woods. ‘People don’t talk highly of it. But I enjoy it. The football is played on the floor more than some teams in League One.
‘The way clubs look after you is a lot better and there’s a lot more coverage and attention. I enjoy the football here. I did well at Ross County and now here.
‘They do it well at Hamilton. We play attractive football, promote youth and give players the chance to go on to bigger and better things. What the club does for people is fantastic. It helps them develop.’