Leyton Orient and Blackpool fans in joint protest against their owners before their League 2 match
Orient are sick of their meddling Italian owner Francesco Becchetti while Oyston family have been locked in battle with fans for years
Blackpool and Leyton Orient fans came together to take part in a joint protest before their League 2 game at Brisbane Road on Saturday afternoon.
The protest was organised by the Leyton Orient Fans’ Trust (LOFT) and Blackpool Supporters’ Trust (BST) at a time when both sets of supporters are calling for a change of ownership at their respective clubs.
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A large number of Orient fans are currently unhappy with Francesco Becchetti’s running of the club, after the Italian bought out the club from Barry Hearn in 2014.
Including caretakers bosses, the club are onto their eighth manager in a little over two years.
And despite having been a penalty shootout away from making the Championship two years ago, the O’s currently sit in 19th place in League Two with an Italian manager Alberto Cavasin who speaks no English and a host of unknown players in their ranks.
Blackpool fans are also currently boycotting home games as they continue to protest against the Oyston family’s control of the club – a battle which has been raging for years and has even been in the courts.
Fans cannot stand the way the club is run, having been in the Premier League jut five years ago – and now are mid-table in League 2.
Tangerines’ chairman Karl Oyston has sued fans over libel claims, while regularly becoming involved in altercations.
Protesters marched from the nearby Birkbeck Tavern pub in Leyton, before congregating outside the stadium at around 2.30pm.
And in the 18th minute of the match, fans from both clubs stood inside the ground for another protest
Organisers said they wanted to send out a loud message to both clubs’ owners under the banner: “We want our clubs back”.
There are also plans for protests in the 18th and 81st-87th minutes of the match, symbolic timings as Orient were founded in 1881 and Blackpool in 1887.
It comes as other clubs with troublesome foreign owners such as Blackburn Rovers and Charlton Athletic, have also staged protests recently about the state of their clubs.
