'We've come a long way' - Leyton Orient chairman Nigel Travis sets sights on Wembley redemption

Sunday will mark 11 years to the day that Nigel Travis was pacing up and down a hotel room in Puerto Rico with the phone pressed to his ear.

On the other end of the line, back in the UK, Travis' eldest son was, somehow, trying to summarise all the ecstasy and agony of Leyton Orient's meeting with Rotherham in the play-off final. Despite leading 2-0 at half-time, the O's would succumb to a rousing fightback from their opponents before losing a penalty shootout.

Unfortunately for Orient, that Wembley heartbreak turned out to be just a prologue to the darkest chapter in their history. Their downward spiral culminated in them tumbling into the abyss of non-league during the turbulent reign of Francesco Becchetti, their controversial former owner.

Even the club's renaissance - which began when Travis and Kent Teague ended the Italian's reign of tyranny in 2017 - has been tinged with turmoil, with their former manager, Justin Edinburgh, tragically passing away just weeks after he had guided Orient back into the EFL.

But the east Londoners' story has come full circle; 11 years on from that game at Wembley, Orient are once again just one win away from returning to the second tier of English football for the first time in 43 years.

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Travis admits that such a feat felt lightyears away back when he and Teague rode in on a white horse to inherit a club who where languishing at the wrong end of the National League without a bank account. "The story of the past eight years has been far better than we ever expected, to be completely honest," Orient's chairman says in the build-up to Sunday's joust with Charlton Athletic.

"We're in a great situation now; one which is probably way ahead of what I ever expected when we first bought the club.

"We went to on the last day of the season; we were in the National League playing Guiseley when they were in the . We've come a long way. I'm feeling good about Sunday but you never know in football."

On the pitch, Richie Wellens, the head coach who has commandeered Orient's would-be rise from League Two to the Championship, has fashioned a team full of grit and guile. Canny use of the loan market has seen the likes of Josh Keeley, Jamie Donley and Charlie Kelman add 'swagger' to a team few fancied to be slugging it out for promotion.

And yet, Orient have blown some of those expected to challenge away this season: only the division's runaway leaders, Birmingham City, have plundered more than the 72 goals Orient chalked up in the regulation campaign.

Fittingly, Wellens' men are also well versed in handling - and overcoming - adversity. The O's started December in the relegation zone; they ended the season with the ultimate act of defiance, stringing together six successive wins to gatecrash the play-off party.

Off the pitch, Orient are also in rude health. Fresh investment was confirmed in the form of their new majority shareholder, David Gandler, last month with a new stadium and training ground high on the agenda. A site for the former has already been identified.

Given they will be backed by over 30,000 fans at Wembley, it's no surprise to hear Travis say that an upgrade on the club's charming but cramped Brisbane Road home - which holds 9,271 people - cannot come soon enough.

And after achieving record season ticket sales off the back of a successful campaign, there is optimism that an afternoon basking in the glow of Wembley stadium's famous arch can further supplement Orient's recent growth spurt.

"Hopefully we can turn some casual fans into regular fans," he says. "London is probably the greatest city in the . Orient is a fantastic club - I'm biased, of course, as I've supported us for 65 years - but everyone who comes here notices that community feel.

"They feel special. I know a lot of people who come over and watch Orient [from the United States] then go to a Premier League game on the Sunday before going home on the Monday. They go to the Premier League and it's a bit more distant, a bit less real."

Is there a risk, then, that promotion to the next level could lead to Orient losing that special quality that sets them apart?

"I don't think we will, no. Partly because of the stadium!", Travis says with a smile.

"Having written a book on culture, I firmly believe culture drives everything. As someone famous once said, 'Culture is more important than strategy', and I think we have a great one," he adds.

"I think we could continue that environment [in the Championship]."

One thing Wellens would like to lose - regardless of whether or not he is a Championship manager next term - is the "little Leyton Orient" tag; he has made no secret of that during his tenure. While Wellens has encouraged fans to embrace a more aspirational mindset, that's easier said than done.

Would promotion help on that front? After all, the O's are perennial underdogs having graced the top-flight for just the solitary season in their history. And they will head into the weekend as the underdogs to Charlton, who already have two wins over their London neighbours under their belt.

"I think we're acting more professionally," Travis says. "If you'd have said to the players, 'Come and have a drink' back when we were in the National League, everyone would have been there. These days, players are so professional they don't drink.

"Off the field we've improved dramatically. Our database has shown to be up to date. Internationally, we're getting known [through streaming] so we are gradually losing that 'little old Leyton Orient' tag. But it will take time. You have to remember, too, we're in London; is two-and-a-half miles away, , Spurs...London is a unique city and we have so many big clubs in a small area."

Orient's triumph in the play-off semi finals - or 'that night' at Stockport, as Travis now refers to it - is the latest golden moment from down the years that the O's chairman holds dear.

It stands in good company. Among them is a victory against during Orient's solitary top-flight campaign. That came after the O's clinched promotion with a 2-0 win over Bury back in the 1961-62 season, which Travis celebrated by cascading onto the Brisbane Road pitch.

A standout moment? Too tough to call. "When I was a kid I wanted to be a journalist, so I've always thought about how reporters see games. When we were in Division Two - or now the Championship - I remember us being very consistent. The only way I had access to games was the as they went around the grounds," he recalls.

"The world has changed so much with ; I lived in Miami in 1989 and the only way I got a result was if my dad faxed it to me! The whole world has changed significantly since then. But we were a very consistent Division Two team - that's my main memory from that era."

That's once again the goal. And if Orient can achieve redemption at Wembley after 11 long years, then Travis and 30,000 other O's will end the Bank Holiday weekend with a new favourite tale to tell.

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