Giving Orient fans a voice
Leyton Orient Fans' Trust
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LOFT members have little confidence in Becchetti
9/26/2016

On a day when yet another managerial change has taken place at the club, LOFT members have expressed their lack of confidence in the current administration of Leyton Orient FC.

Members were surveyed in the past fortnight as to whether they had confidence in various aspects of how the club is currently run. By and large they recorded very negative opinions about Francesco Becchetti's regime:

  • 70% of respondents were dissatisfied with the financial competence of the club
  • 76% were dissatisfied with the longer term planning and aims
  • 85% were dissatisfied with staffing and Human Resource management
  • 92% were dissatisfied with communications

Apart from evenly split views on the commercial operation, the message was clear and in no way positive.

Members were also asked if LOFT should now publicly declare it has no confidence in the club regime, with 51% agreeing it should (26% said no, 23% weren't sure).

Asked about participating in direct action in protest at the Becchetti administration, if this was co-ordinated by LOFT, 65% said they would take part. While most respondents supported protesting about the current state of the Club, many said they wouldn't take part in actions that might impact on team performance. A typical comment was "it needs to be something that doesn't impact the team and that doesn't bring protesting fans into direct conflict with the large majority of Orient fans who would not, at this stage, participate."

We received many comments expressing frustration with the Club's owner and his lieutenants, such as "LOFC needs to return to being a family club where players and staff are happy to be here, and not an expensive hobby for a rich businessman."

We also asked members' view about the Fans' Forum, an occasional meeting between fans' reps and Club administration managers arranged by our Supporters' Liaison Officer. 78% thought this was a useful exercise and 93% thought LOFT should continue to fully participate in these; a typical comment here was that "we need to win the owner round and not confront him - if we do he will just ignore us".

We thank those LOFT members that took the time to answer the survey and provided extra comments. These will inform the Committee on our next steps and positions to take when engaging with the Club. We shall also ensure the Club's CEO is aware of these views.

We shall continue to give regular opportunities for our members to make their opinions known to the Committee on a variety of Orient issues, so that our future actions are mindful of the consensus view.

LOFT is also preparing to hold a members meeting shortly, to discuss these results and decide on strategic reactions to the current situation at Orient, as well as consider the options around the ownership of the Matchroom Stadium.





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