Leyton Orient : The Road to Wembley (1967-1999)

This is the story of a not-very good football club, a journeyman supporter and his seemingly never ending dream to see his team play at an iconic stadium.

July 1966. Wembley Stadium, England v. Mexico. Charlton enters the opposition half and lets fly. On a 12 inch black and white television, a seven-year-old boy sees his first ever goal and at the same time falls in love with the place where it was scored.

April 1967. Brisbane Road E10, Leyton Orient v. Swindon Town. The lads first live game. A thrilling goalless draw and his life was mapped out - he’s fallen in love with the Orient.

Two different passions and a desire begins to want to watch his team play at the legendary venue.

May 29th 1999. Destination finally reached. This is the story of all that happened to the little club in the east end of London and a passionate follower of theirs in the thirty-two years in between. This is the tale of a long road to Wembley.

About the Author

Martin Strong was born a few miles from Brisbane Road and has supported the O's for 49 years. He has seen well over a thousand Leyton Orient matches at over 140 different venues around the country since then.

He has been writing in every month in the Leyton Orientear - the second longest running fanzine in the country - for 29 years, as well as writing various articles in books and magazines on the club in that time.

This is his second book following on from 'Leyton Orient - 60 Greatest Matches of the Tijuana Taxi Era', which was published in 2013.