Tottenham Hotspur Fans Step In To Help Leyton Orient After Cup Match Cancelled

Tottenham Hotspur fans have stepped in to soften the financial blow for fellow London club Leyton Orient after a cup match between the two sides was called off on Tuesday owing to a slew of positive COVID-19 tests.

Tottenham was due to play the League Two club in the EFL Cup on Tuesday night, but a number of the pre-match tests for the Leyton Orient players, which were paid for by Spurs, came back positive.

Reports suggested that as many as 17 of the east London club’s players may have had the virus. The club had already decided on Monday to close its training ground and stadium until further notice.

The EFL confirmed the postponement of the game two hours before kick-off. The Orient hierarchy is hopeful that the match will be rearranged, and no concrete decision has yet been announced, but under new EFL Cup rules brought in with Coronavirus in mind it appears likely that Leyton Orient will have to forfeit. That would mean Tottenham faces Chelsea or Barnsley next week in the fourth round.

The match was to be broadcast on Sky television in the UK, so forfeiting would mean a significant financial blow for the east London outfit. Given how lower-league English soccer clubs have been struggling with the effects of the pandemic, it is a hit Orient could ill afford.

On Tuesday, Leyton Orient owner Nigel Travis told TalkSport that, “We’re going to lose £2.5m [$3.18m] this year, so anything that can help us reduce that loss is clearly important… this game is worth £150,000 [$190,000] profit to us.” Now, that extra revenue looks like it will be lost.

In response, though, Spurs fans have put their hands in their pockets to help out, as first reported by football.london.

On Wednesday morning, the Leyton Orient official Twitter account tweeted, “The club shop has done over £20k of sales since yesterday morning! No words for your generosity, Spurs fans.”

Tottenham supporters have been buying the shirts, which will be donated to children’s hospice Haven House and children at local hospital Whipps Cross. The delivery fees, meanwhile, will go to the JE3 Foundation, a charitable organization set up in memory of the former Tottenham player and Leyton Orient manager Justin Edinburgh, who died suddenly last year aged just 49.

This is not the first time in recent months that the two clubs, whose stadiums are separated by less than five miles, have been brought together.

In May, Spurs’ star striker Harry Kane announced that he would be purchasing the shirt sponsorship rights for the Leyton Orient kit this season, for the home, away and third jerseys.

Kane donated the advertising space on the three shirts to thank health and care workers for their work during the pandemic, to Haven House, and to Mind, a charity that works around mental health issues.