In an exclusive interview, Leyton Orient CEO Danny Macklin tells Sam Grossman that disillusioned Premier League football fans are swapping the top flight for League Two’s community game.
Danny Macklin has called for fans alienated by Premier League prices and VAR controversy to switch allegiances in favour of the O’s.
Speaking about the club’s ‘Real Football in the Capital’ campaign, Macklin encouraged fans to visit the Breyer Group Stadium to see “affordable family football the way it should be enjoyed”.
He added: “We want to provide football that fans can relate to, football that they can remember from their childhoods, and for future generations to savour that in a friendly, relaxing entertaining atmosphere.”
The O’s CEO also discussed the controversy surrounding the Premier League’s use of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) and its negative impact on stadium atmospheres as reason to support a lower league club.
“There’s no VAR in League Two, we don’t have the controversies. I’ve been to a lump of Premier League games recently and the enjoyment has just been sucked out of it,” he added.
Macklin believes he is one of a vast number of football fans who have become disillusioned with the modern game at the top level. “What we’re seeing is an abundance of season ticket holders and disengaged football fans from bigger clubs in our area, mainly West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur [both clubs moved recently into new stadia], and we’ve opened our doors to those fans who feel disengaged,” he said.
Macklin described what the Orient matchday experience offers fans which the Premier League cannot, saying: “At some stadiums the seats are miles away from the action, whereas here you’re never more than 26 rows away from the action at the Breyer Group Stadium.”
Macklin also highlighted that meeting a Premier League player after a match is almost impossible. However, at Orient you can “meet one in the bar after the game to get their autograph, or sign up to be a mascot for free.”
He added: “We can offer relatable, affordable family football – just how it used to be in the top flight but sadly isn’t anymore.”
On the pitch, Macklin hopes Orient will continue to improve after a difficult season which started under tragic circumstances following the death of first team coach Justin Edinburgh.
“This season has been an incredibly troublesome one in the way that it started with Justin’s tragic passing, which left a massive void that was exceptionally difficult to even try and replace,” he said.
“Embleton did a phenomenal job in the interim position to first of all galvanise the team and, in his words, provide vital stability at a time when it felt like everything was crumbling around us.”
In a decision that has since been widely derided, the Orient board decided to replace interim Head Coach Embleton – who had won three games in a row – with Carl Fletcher, who was sacked after only 29 days.
Macklin recalled that Orient appointed Fletcher, who failed to record a single win as Orient Head Coach, after “Ross himself made the decision to not take the role on a permanent basis.”
The Orient CEO admitted that Fletcher’s appointment was a mistake, saying: “The appointment of Carl Fletcher was an error that we made as a club and individually I take my fair share of blame for that.
“It wasn’t Carl that got it wrong – it was us. It just wasn’t the right fit, it’s nothing against Carl. Carl is a very nice guy but we had to hold our hands up and act quickly.”
Embleton has since retaken charge of the side and results have improved. Despite severe injury problems in defence, Orient have breathing space above the relegation zone and Macklin hopes that they can end the season on a positive note.
“As players come back, Ross will have selection headaches which is a nice problem to have as a head coach,” he said. “We’re confident that in the last quarter of the season we can work on a formula that will gather momentum and show that we can go into next season with slightly higher expectations.”
Macklin also believes the club are well ahead of schedule in the quest to reach League One. “We set objectives a few years ago to get back to where we were [League One] and that is now a realistic objective for the next few seasons,” he said.
“We set a three-year challenge to get out of the National League, which is very difficult to do, and we did that in two seasons. [This season] the objective was to stabilise, finish mid-table and show promise for the 2020-2021 season, which we are very much on track to achieve.”
If Orient’s climb up the leagues continues, Macklin’s claim that only lower league clubs can provide ‘Real Football in the Capital’ might be placed under scrutiny sooner rather than later.
