April 30 – Based in East London, Leyton Orient have been a roller-coaster club over the past five decades, bouncing through the tiers of the English football pyramid. However, US media investor David Gandler aims to change that trajectory after acquiring a majority stake in the club.
The O’s, currently on the verge of qualifying for the League One playoffs for the Championship, need to match Reading’s result this weekend to secure their place in the white-knuckle ride that is playoff football.
Gandler (pictured), who has big ambitions for the club once owned by snooker and boxing impresario Barry Hearn, said: “The goal, without putting a timeline on it, is to progress to the Championship.”
Gandler is co-founder of Fubo TV in the US and acts as its current CEO. He will own 78.55% of the ownership of GSG LOFC Limited which taken 100% of Eagle Investments 2017 Limited, the club’s former parent company. There are eight minority shareholders.
The club has had a tumultuous recent past, which includes two relegations in three seasons and a winding-up order during the ownership of Francesco Bechetti. They even had a spell outside the top four professional leagues before working their way back in.
“This is an amazing club, and the people around it have made it very clear what happened between 2014 and 2017. That’s why it’s very important for us to maintain continuity. This is not about achieving certain levels really quickly. We’ll continue to do everything we can to ensure the club remains on track without spending recklessly,” Gandler said.
Now based in New York, Gandler plans to visit Brisbane Road about six times next season. “I’m playing a supporting role,” he added, stressing that the “heritage” of the club must remain central.
Back in the mid-2000s, then-owner Hearn sold off the four corners of the ground to developers who built flats – offering residents great views but significantly damaging the ambiance of Brisbane Road. Gandler and his group are now in discussions with the local council about a new stadium with plans to double the current 9,200 capacity.
Leyton Orient were the closest team to London’s newly built Olympic Stadium, which was given to Premier League West Ham on a peppercorn rent deal post the 2012 Olympics by former mayor of London and English prime minister Boris Johnson. Hearn had been lobbying for the Orient to play a couple of times a year at the stadium. His voice went unheeded prompting him to remark that Johnson knew “the price of everything but the value of nothing”.
Chief executive Mark Devlin commented: “We’ve been speaking to the council for a few months. We’re looking at a capacity of 17,000 to 20,000. We’re considering a number of sites, but we’re very aware that we’re Leyton Orient and want to stay in Leyton if at all possible – or at least within the borough of Waltham Forest.”
This latest acquisition further proves that the appetite among American investors for English football shows no sign of slowing down.
Contact the writer of this story, Nick Webster, at moc.l1745999381labto1745999381ofdlr1745999381owedi1745999381sni@o1745999381fni1745999381