Fans start crowdfunding campaign for beleaguered O’s

Leyton Orient supporters have begun a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds as the club faces an uncertain future.

On March 1st Leyton Orient were issued with a winding-up petition and the club’s current owner, Francesco Becchetti, is understood to be looking to sell the League Two club.

Leyton Orient Fans’ Trust (LOFT) are aiming to raise £250,000 which would be used to help regenerate Leyton Orient FC or, in the event of liquidation of the club, creating a successor ‘phoenix club’.

“Administration, or even liquidation, cannot be ruled out,” LOFT say. “Despite Becchetti’s recent cutting of the playing squad, there is a very real risk that he may simply stop covering the losses the club currently makes.”

At the time of writing, the campaign had raised just over £59,500 towards their goal in just four days.

The Trust believes that the best solution is for the current owner to sell the club as a going concern, but passed a resolution at a special meeting of Orient fans last week to plan for the worst and establish the regeneration fund.

• Save Orient: See the GoFundMe campaign…
• Follow Leyton Orient Fans’ Trust on Twitter…
• Save The Orient – learn more…

Thanks to Spudgun 67 for the image used in this article. Reproduced here under Creative Commons license.