Leyton Orient CEO Mark Devlin has admitted that the decision to build a new stadium has not been taken lightly but was needed to ‘achieve our aspirations’.
The O’s revealed this morning that they intend to create a world class stadium which will include a ‘modern day campus’ and a capacity to support their ambitions of competing in the Championship. This will see them move from their current home at Brisbane Road, where they have been housed since 1937.
A statement on the club website confirmed their ambitious project, claiming sustainability will be at the heart of the development:
“Another key element of the vision is sustainability: a zero-carbon development that is energy efficient and committed to urban greening and biodiversity net gain,” the club said.
“A new campus may include publicly accessible green spaces and pedestrian/cycle links to the wider area, in line with the council’s ambitions. This focus ensures the project will be both resilient and welcoming for all.”
“Impossible To Stay At Brisbane Road”
Speaking after the announcement, CEO Mark Devlin told BBC Radio London that staying put had been explored, although it would have been impossible to increase the capacity to meet their aspirations:
“With a bit of creative thinking we might have been able to creep up to 12, 13, maybe even 14,000 capacity – it was more likely to be around the 13,000 mark.
“It was clear that to achieve our aspirations, we couldn’t achieve it, sadly, on the current site. That was always our first wish.
“They’ve made it very clear they would like us to stay in the borough and at this moment in time we’ve only really looked at sites within Waltham Forest.
“In an ideal world we want to stay close to our heart, which is Leyton.”
Orient’s current capacity stands at 9,271. Their average attendance so far this season stands at 8,080.
Writer’s View
It’s clear that Leyton Orient are a club with big ambitions. They came so close to reaching the Championship last season after they were defeated in the League One play-off final by Charlton Athletic in May. The O’s clearly want to take that one step further in the coming years and feel they need to start preparing for the future to do so. Brisbane Road would be the smallest stadium in the Championship, with Oxford United’s Kassam Road the closest at 12,500. It remains to be seen as to whether this will be a popular decision and it will be interested to see how close to their current home the new premises will be.
