“When you win something as a team you have an extra connection," ex-Orient midfielder James Dayton explained as he recalled the events following Leyton Orient winning the National League title in 2019. On June 8th, everything changed at Brisbane Road.
Becoming part of a title-winning side creates an everlasting bond. After years of horror out of the Football League, the manager who takes you back becomes an instant legend.
Heroic O's manager Justin Edinburgh suddenly suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away just over a month after despair turned to elation in East London when his side was named champions.
For a player, that is unimaginably brutal. The fluctuation in mood must be startling, and moving forward as a football club is something which you would imagine as unquestionably difficult.
That is something which seasoned midfielder James Dayton and his Orient colleagues had to deal with.
“No one has experienced that situation and how to handle it,” Dayton told me as he recalled the around Edinburgh’s passing, just as the club prepared for a welcome return to the football league.
Leyton Orient slumped to new lows in the 2017-18 campaign after a disappointing 13th-place finish in the National League. Pitch invasions and protests were taking place regularly with demands for owner Francesco Becchetti to sell the season prior. The club was under threat of extinction at the time over an unpaid tax bill.
A Nigel Travis-led business consortium took over the club in 2017 and saved the club. The only way was up for what was a sleeping giant at the time.
In late November of 2017, Edinburgh was named manager. He had an uphill battle on his hands, but partnered with Travis, the only way was up.
After losing his first game, Edinburgh’s side gained traction and claimed four wins on the bounce, to be winless in the following four. There was hard work required to help the club return to where it belonged as one of the 92 Football League clubs.
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Fortunes were changing
The following season, he started with positive momentum, as the team boasted a fantastic 13-game unbeaten run which stretched from the beginning of August to the end of September. The National League is notoriously difficult, despite the remarkable success stories of Wrexham and Notts County last season which might have proved otherwise.
On route to winning the league that year, Leyton Orient only lost seven games as they amassed 89 points. The turnaround was astonishing. From despair to silverware, the O’s won their first league title in 49 years, as jubilant fans stormed the Brisbane Road pitch in heaven.
It is so often that a club gains traction from silverware, because everyone involved becomes that much closer. June 8th saw awful news break from Leyton Orient football club.
Justin Edinburgh suffered a cardiac arrest at the gym and sadly passed away in the hospital less than a week later. James Dayton, who lived through the highs of the title and lows of the months that followed described to me what that period was like for him.
“It was really strange. I had broken my leg and twisted my ankle; I was in a cab on the way to see a specialist when I heard he went into hospital," he began, as he recalled the sequence of events.
“I remember I was actually at a friend’s party when we found out. Just the worst, the worst news."
The excitement for the new season was palpable from the moment Orient were promoted. There was a pattern of sides promoted from the National League having a successful first season. Lincoln City were promoted to League One just two seasons after promotion from the National League, as were Forest Green and Tranmere shortly after promotion from the fifth division.
“For me it was horrendous – the mood around (the place) wasn’t the same."
The club chose assistant coach Ross Embleton as caretaker manager until February, a sensible decision to hire from the inside following the shock.
“You probably wouldn’t have wanted anyone from the outside coming in because it was so raw," Dayton explained.
While it took a few years to rebound, Leyton Orient were able to maintain their status in League Two in the following three seasons before becoming champions and lifting the title yet again last season. Leyton Orient now sit proudly in League One, back to where a club of that size belongs.
Justin Edinburgh was a figurehead for change in E10, with the O’s on-pitch improvements down to his leadership. He has had the main stand named after him at Brisbane Road and made a large impact on the players.
“He said one quote – never too high never too low – it was so simple. He was the same whether we won or lost”.
Dayton detailed a personal, touching story of the man-management and caring, charismatic quality which Edinburgh possessed while at the club; “I remember walking in at Easter – he said here you go – he gave me two Easter eggs for my kids - little things like that."
The impact of the Orient manager was greater than just in a footballing sense.
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The JE3 Foundation
The legacy of Justin Edinburgh has remained through the JE3 foundation, which aims to raise awareness of cardiac arrests. The idea that someone as fit as Edinburgh suffered from a cardiac arrest surprised Dayton.
“I remember months before his passing he would be on the Wattbike doing a 5 or 10k going absolutely mad on the bike – he would do that three times a week. I was thinking; how has he had a cardiac arrest?”.
The foundation is run by the son of Justin, Charlie Edinburgh. The aim is to have a defibrillator in every gym and sports facility in the country to change the outcome of cardiac arrests.
The website explains that 30,000 people have out-of-hospital cardiac arrests each year in the UK, and only one in ten survive. The foundation hosts charity events and delivers CPR training at sports clubs.
The story of Justin Edinburgh is extremely unique but deserves showcasing as a reminder that anyone could suffer a cardiac arrest at any moment, no matter the health of the individual.
The legacy of the Tottenham Hotspur defender and Leyton Orient manager will likely stand the test of time, but his greatest impact will be off the football pitch, and for that, he will be remembered forever.
