Around 150 members packed out the top floor of the Birkbeck Tavern on Thursday 10 November 2016, for LOFT's Annual General Meeting.

The turnout, far higher than any other LOFT meeting in its 15-year history, demonstrates the depth of concern among Orient fans about the club's future.

Photo © John Mcintyre

LOFT chair Doug Harper set the tone for the meeting with his barnstorming Chair's Report, which sent out a clear message to the club's owner Francesco Becchetti: "We Want Our Club Back".

Once the Treasurer's report had been received and the re-election of Mark Dunn and Mike Randall to the Society Board had been approved by members, the meeting moved on to the main item on the agenda - the resolution calling on Mr Becchetti to either set out how he would change the running of the club, or put the club up for sale.

Guest speaker Matt Porter, former club chief executive, explained his view that something had to be done as the club could very well be relegated due to the way it is being run. He urged the meeting to support the resolution and to help save the football club.

Doug explained that the first part of the resolution entails setting out a clear set of principles on running a football club:

• A CEO and senior management team who understand the workings of our football club and can do their jobs unhindered
• A manager put in place that understands the lower English Leagues, who is allowed to do his job unhindered
• A sensible and consistent transfer and wages policy with the manager having the last word on transfers
• A communications policy starting from the top as has been constantly promised, including a club AGM

Committee member Adam Michaelson then set out the work of a sub-committee which has been focussing on disaster planning and how LOFT could help the club recover from such scenarios. He explained that the evidence is clear of a lack of good business management at the club, and that our research shows there is a distinct possibility that Becchetti's funding of the club could run out.

The sub-committee is planning around a number of scenarios that could lead to LOFT having to step in, and is planning to be ready if and when any of those scenarios arises - clearly the best outcome is if we can negotiate quietly with Becchetti on an exit that doesn't harm the club further. Work continues on putting together a finance and management package - this isn't ready yet, we are looking at the end of the season when we foresee this could be a crunch time for the club, regardless of this season's outcome on the pitch.

Discussion from the floor demonstrated a wide range of views on how best to approach the club situation, ranging from those who don't want protest but quiet negotiations, to those who want to protest loudly for regime change. There were also differing views among members on whether the ultimate disaster scenario - the club folds and a phoenix club has to form to replace it - would be supported.

Overall however the meeting was supportive of LOFT's efforts now and in the future on planning for all scenarios, and the resolution was passed in full.

Committee member Mat Roper then set out plans that were being formed with Blackpool's trust around a joint "We Want Our Club Back" protest. Details are being firmed up, but the plan is to stage a march from the Birkbeck to the ground, via Leyton tube station, before the game between the two sides on 19 November. A show of hands indicated overwhelming support for the planned protest, so planning will continue and details will be announced very soon.

The second resolution around the sale of Brisbane Road was then discussed. Adam explained that he had spoken at length with Barry Hearn about the sale of the ground from Matchroom Sport Ltd to his pension scheme. While Adam was obviously not at liberty to discuss Barry's tax situation, he was able to report that Barry was honest and open with us, and that the transaction was sound and conferred no loss of benefit to the club.

The club has a 20-year lease with an option to extend for a further 20 (and indeed, not mentioned in the meeting, an option to extend for another 20 after that). Adam explained that the lease is very beneficial to the club in that rent rises are tied to inflation (rather than market prices as is the norm).

In short, very few lenders would lend on the basis of the rental agreement, as the rent received from the club would be far lower than the costs of borrowing 100% of the price. The high level of corporate governance around ownership by a pension fund is a further re-assurance.

Adam also noted that this was not a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy the ground, so we could approach the pension fund to buy it if we received financial backing (say, from a wealthy supporter) to bring the ground into supporter ownership.

It was also explained that while the Asset of Community Value (ACV) status would come off automatically upon a sale, Barry has said he won't oppose a new ACV application. We have also contacted the local council and they see no reason why ACV status would not be accepted given the unchanged use of the stadium.

The resolution not to proceed with a purchase of the ground through borrowing was passed in full.

The meeting then heard the final resolution on the EFL's proposed Whole Game Solution. Committee member Dave Knight set out LOFT's objections to the proposal given the drop in games, changes to FA Cup matches and regionalisation of the lower leagues, all of which are seen to be at the Premier League's benefit rather than lower division clubs. The resolution to oppose the plans and to call on the club to vote against them was passed in full.

The meeting ended with a Q&A session with Matt Porter, who said that with a new regime in place at the club, he could have a discussion with Barry about coming back to help, as he feels he has "unfinished business" at the club and would be honoured to help.

He also revealed that current club CEO Alessandro Angelieri was never meant to be CEO, but became it by default after the planned CEO returned to Italy a few days before he was due to be appointed. The meeting was not surprised to hear that Rob Gagliardi told Matt that he was not qualified to work at that level when the takeover occurred; since then he has been goalkeeper coach and is now head of recruitment at the club.

There were also questions about the takeover, with Matt noting that the legal parts of the sale were handled by Mischcon de Reya and the financial side by KPMG, so it was definitely not "on the back of a fag packet".

We'd like to thank everyone that turned up to contribute to a hugely successful evening. Our apologies to those who encountered uncomfortable conditions at the back of the room, as the turnout was far greater than even our most optimistic expectations. However the turnout shows the depth of how much care and support there is for Leyton Orient's future, and that will be very important in the coming months.