The former Tottenham Hotspur trainee looked ahead to this week’s fixture announcement and discussed his new number 22

When the 2018/19 National League fixtures come out tomorrow (Wednesday) at 1pm, Leyton Orient midfielder Charlie Lee will look straight at the festive period to see who the club will face over Christmas time.

Last season, the O’s were up against local rivals Dagenham & Redbridge on Boxing Day before a return meeting on New Years Day. Sandwiched in between was a home fixture with Bromley.

Although anterior cruciate ligament damage to his knee prevented Lee from playing in any of the fixtures, he is excited for this week’s announcement.

“I haven’t really got a preference who I would like to face,” said the 31-year-old when asked about who they could face in their opener.

“To be honest I always look out for the Christmas games because I love the festive period. It is my favourite time of the year.

“I know some footballers don’t like it, but I love it and I don’t know what I’ll do when I am not playing over Christmas time.

“I do love that period and they keep it reasonably local, so it is always exciting to know you have some sort of derby or close game. I love looking at those fixtures and the first game is always a major one for everyone.”

While Lee was not available for selection over the festive period, he did play in the O’s 2017/18 opener.

He was part of the team which endured an afternoon to forget in front of the BT Sport cameras as they lost 2-0 at Sutton United on August 5.

Everyone at Orient will hope for a different outcome on the opening day of the term this time around and Lee is hoping for better luck this season.

The ex-Stevenage midfielder recently changed his number from eight to 22 and went into more detail about why having revealed on Twitter both of his boys are born on the 22nd.

Lee added: “When my second boy was born on the 22nd I asked for the number 22 at Stevenage and I loved it. It was my favourite number.

“When I joined Orient, Martin Ling texted me asking if I wanted four or eight and I replied asking if they had 22, but I got no response back!

“So when I went in for my first day of training Ada (Martin) told me they had me down as eight and the only time I’ve been promoted before was at Gillingham when I wore eight, so I thought I might be better off staying with eight.

“But as soon as I did my knee I made the decision I would go back to 22 no matter what happened.”