Richie Wellens 'continuing Justin Edinburgh's work' at Leyton Orient, says Nigel Travis

Richie Wellens has guided Leyton Orient back to League One after an eight-year absence

Richie Wellens has "continued the work started by Justin Edinburgh" by getting Leyton Orient promoted to League One, according to chairman Nigel Travis.

Edinburgh managed the O's to the National League title in 2018-19 but died aged 49 in June 2019 following a cardiac arrest.

Orient have been promoted from the fourth tier under Wellens with four games of the campaign remaining.

"Richie has done a spectacular job," Travis told BBC Radio London.

He added: "He has got true engagement with the players and takes a strategic approach.

"He has done a magnificent job making sure we didn't overstretch the players and his management of their minutes has been incredible.

"Richie has continued the work that was started in the National League by Justin Edinburgh, who unfortunately died. We had to overcome that and Richie has helped us do that."

Wellens was appointed head coach in March last year and recorded seven wins in the final 11 games of the 2021-22 campaign.

He managed to continue that form - with Orient leading the table for most of the season - and has built a compact side, in which only Paul Smyth (10) has reached double figures for goals in the league.

As a result, the east London club have ended their eight-year absence from League One, which has included a two-year spell in non-league.

The O's were beaten on penalties in the third-tier play-off final in 2014 but a takeover that summer by Italian businessman Francesco Becchetti started a damaging downward spiral, which included two relegations in the space of three years and saw them drop into non-league for the first time since 1905.

A consortium led by Travis took over the club in June 2017 and steadied the ship, with Orient winning the National League title at the second time of asking under Edinburgh.

However, the sudden death of the former Tottenham Hotspur defender left the O's reeling, with three mid-table finishes following in League Two before Wellens' arrival.

'No cash and no bank account'

Leyton Orient's promotion celebrations on Tuesday were a far cry from the state the club were in when Travis took over the O's in 2017

It has been a long road back, with Travis having to improve off-field structures and rebuild trust with the fanbase following Becchetti's three-year spell as owner.

Orient staved off a winding-up petition at the High Court shortly before Travis and his consortium completed their purchase of the club.

"We have come a long way since we brought the club back in 2017," Travis said.

"We had a six-year goal - which some people thought was very ambitious - to get back to where we came from, which was League One.

"We bought a club which had no cash and no bank account, which was amazing, no lease on the training ground, no players signed for the next season and no season tickets sold - and that was in the middle of June.

"We've had difficult times like Covid, Justin's passing and some head coaches that didn't work out. But persistence and sticking focused on the goal is what we did."

Orient's promotion was confirmed on Tuesday in bizarre circumstances, with their match at Gillingham halted with 12 minutes to go because of a floodlight failure.

Despite being 2-0 down and reduced to 10 men O's players and staff celebrated on the pitch before the game restarted, knowing they had secured a top-three finish after sixth-placed Bradford lost at Swindon.

With a seven-point cushion at the top of the table, Wellens is now eager to capture the League Two trophy and what would be the Brisbane Road outfit's first English Football League title since winning the old Third Division in 1969-70.

"We need to make these next few weeks so special that we can always call back on our memories and what a special time it was," Wellens told BBC Radio London.

"We've been there [at the top] a long time but we need to refocus and reset now.

"I've seen it before with teams where they are promoted so early that they switch off and they don't win a title. We need to make sure we are at it."

Edinburgh died less than two months after clinching promotion from the National League with Orient in 2019