It was a bit of a wild and whacky season at Brisbane Road, but Leyton Orient are keen to put that behind them and fully focus on a promotion bid next season. They have today announced their retained list, meaning preparations for their League Two campaign is well and truly underway.
A total of eight players will be leaving the football club, one of which rejecting the offer of a new contract to seek a new challenge. One more player will be staying after the club took up the option of a one-year extension to his deal.
There are a couple of high profile names in the list, and a few names which rival supporters will be aware of and feel as though they could do a job for their respective clubs.
Mathieu Baudry departs the club having decided to turn down a new year, which he was offered some time ago. He leaves having made 157 appearances for the O’s and was appointed club captain at the start of the season.
Also moving on is central midfielder Lloyd James. He has suffered with injury problems for some time, and the club felt now was the right time to allow the player to start a fresh elsewhere. He made 137 appearances for Leyton Orient, joining at the same time as Baudry in 2012.
Jamaican international Jobi McAnuff is perhaps the ‘biggest’ name to be exiting. It is well-documented that he was on quite a big wage and it was always quite likely he would be leaving this summer. Having fallen out of favour under previous managements, he started 14 League Two matches this season, scoring three goals.
Bradley Pritchard, Frazer Shaw and Connor Essam all enjoyed their fair share of football this season but each have been allowed to find new clubs. Also leaving is Gary Woods and Blair Turgott.
Nicky Hunt has signed a new one-year deal after the club electing to take up the option to extend his respective deal.
