Settled pre-season will make big difference for Orient, says Lee
Leyton Orient head coach Justin Edinburgh speaks with first-team captain Charlie Lee ahead of his first outing since August 19 (pic: Simon O'Connor). - Credit: Archant
The 31-year-old Londoner discusses the importance of the O’s having a full six weeks with their manager and an almost complete squad
Charlie Lee believes Leyton Orient will benefit from having a full pre-season under Justin Edinburgh with virtually all of their squad in place this summer.
It was a very different story this time last year with no manager in place and hardly any players with adequate experience.
Fast forward 12 months and the O’s have a 23-man squad and although there will be a couple of additions in the coming weeks, they are in a much better situation compared to last pre-season.
Lee was Orient’s first-team captain in the 2017/18 campaign with David Mooney club skipper and he believes the foundations already in place for this summer will boost their chances of success in the near future.
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He said: “One of our major problems last season was not having a pre-season together and even me and ‘Moons’ missed the first week of it and we were the first to sign.
“Come week three or four of pre-season we had our squad and then we only had a week left until the new campaign started.
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“So I think that was a major problem, especially when it came to injuries and performances dropping off after the first month.
“This season I think it will be a massive positive to have six full weeks with the manager to work on things before the league starts.”
After missing most of the past campaign recovering from anterior cruciate ligament damage to his knee, Lee can’t wait for the National League to start up again.
He is less excited about the running they will have to do this week when they are back at the club’s Chigwell training base.
“We are back in on Wednesday, so it is a weird one because as a footballer I can’t wait until August, but I can always wait for the first day as it will be so hard,” said Lee.
“It will be nice to see all the boys, I have seen a few of them in the off-season, but I haven’t seen all of them, so it will be good.
“I am looking forward to going back and a bit nervous as well because I know it won’t be easy!”
