New Leyton Orient signing looking forward to season

New Leyton Orient signing Blair Turgott is looking forward to linking up with boss Ian Hendon again.

Turgott, 21, played for Hendon’s West Ham development squad, before making his only first-team appearance in a 5-0 FA Cup defeat at Nottingham Forest.

He had loan spells at Bradford, Colchester, Rotherham and Dagenham & Redbridge before joining League One Coventry last season.

But he is now reunited with Hendon after joining the Brisbane Road ranks late last week, alongside another former young Hammer in Paul McCallum, and said: “I’m looking forward to it. I can’t wait to get started.

“I learnt a lot under Ian when I was at West Ham and I’ve got a good relationship with him.

“When he told me he’d got the job I was delighted he put his faith in me and asked me to come here.

“He’s very professional and at the time I was at West Ham he kept me on my feet and made it easy for me, he told me how to play and what he wanted from me.”

Turgott has made a total of 25 league and cup appearances in his fledging career, but has also been capped 27 times by England from under-16 to under-19, scoring 10 times.

Now he is looking to really make his mark with O’s in League Two following their relegation last term, having signed a one-year contract.

He added: “It’s good to play under-21s and reserve football, but it’s a different kettle of fish playing men’s football and it’s something I needed to do and it helped me grow up a bit and mature.

“Hopefully with those experiences I can do the best I can for the club and hopefully go forward.

“It’s time to get back to work, keep working hard and hit the ground running hopefully in pre-season and hopefully it’ll be a good season for us.

“We’ve got a good squad here. Obviously it was disappointing going down, but definitely we’ve got a good squad and hopefully we can push on.

As long as we start the season well, you never know what could happen.”

McCallum, also 21, has signed a two-year deal in E10 having so far made a total of 30 Football League appearances during loan spells at Wimbledon, Aldershot, Torquay and Portsmouth.

The former Dulwich Hamlet striker never made a first-team appearance for West Ham, but had a spell with Scottish Premier League side Hearts in 2014.