When Sweden won the bronze in the 1994 World Cup, the manager Tommy Svensson read poems by Karin Boye to the players. If this had any part in what was a wonderful summer for the national side I don’t know, but Boye did commit suicide in 1941. Slade opting for Winston Churchill in 2014 may be just the thing to ensure success. Personally, and as an Orient supporter, I find more comfort in Charles Dickens.
It’s been a season filled with wonderful memories and great achievements. But it’s not over yet. There’s the possibility of even higher levels of awesomeness. Promotion. With the real chance of heartbreak as well. Defeat. That would put a large smudge on the canvas of this Mona Lisa season.
I really want this to be the best of times all the way up to and including 90+ minutes at Wembley. Slade and a few of the players have been here before and lost. Just rewards and all that. The worst of times are easier to imagine. Just summon up memories of Roots Hall and the JPT. Apply to Peterborough. Orient bossing the game but failing to score. Then losing to a Britt Assombalonga goal.
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| It really is a girl's name - Britt |
Perhaps Churchill is better suited to the role of motivator but I cannot really see him as an Orient man. Dickens on the other hand, he could very well have rooted for Orient Football Club had he lived into the 1880’s. Be that as it may. I have decided to embrace the playoffs. Orient can do this. I have great expectations. We will have a tale to cite in years to come. There will be a Twist or two before this is over.
I’ll end with a quote. Not from Slade’s playbook but from Svensson’s. Worked twenty years ago so why not now?
“Yes, there is goal and meaning in our path - but it's the way that is the labour's worth”. Karin Boye from the poem On the move.
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