Heroes & Villains – Leyton Orient
Heroes – FA Cup Semi Finalists 1977/78
This Orient side went one step further in the competition than the club had gone before, most recently reaching the Quarter Finals in 1972.
All but one of their ties went to replays, with the exception being a 3-1 home win over Blackburn Rovers in the Fourth Round. The other victories came against Norwich City, Chelsea and Middlesbrough.
A second trip to Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge came in the Semi Final where they were paired up with First Division Arsenal. A giantkilling was never going to be on the cards as Malcolm MacDonald scored twice and Graham Rix sealed Arsenal’s place in the 1978 FA Cup Final.
Villain – John Sitton
Phineas T. Barnum, the 19th century American showman and circus owner once said “There is no such thing as bad publicity”. However, Barnum never had the infamous John Sitton, Leyton Orient’s co-manager for just over a year with Chris Turner.
John Sitton shot to fame after a half-time rant at one of his players was filmed in a Channel Four documentary ‘Orient: Club for a Fiver‘. I won’t put a video on here of it but he said:
“You, you little c**t, when I tell you to do something, and you, you f****g big c**t, when I tell you to do something, do it. And if you come back at me, we’ll have a f****g right sort-out in here. All right? And you can pair up if you like, and you can f****g pick someone else to help you, and you can bring your f****g dinner. ‘Cos by the time I’ve finished with you, you’ll f****g need it.”
Compare this to former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who used to have periods of silence during their half-time interval!
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