Nigel Travis has praised Justin Edinburgh’s “amazing” job at Leyton Orient and has spoken of his desire to guide the East London club back to League One.

The O’s chairman put together a consortium which saved the club in the summer of 2017 following a turbulent three years under the ownership of Italian Francesco Becchetti, which saw Orient end up in the high court at one point.

It has now been 16 months since Travis took over alongside Kent Teague and the O’s are certainly making promising steps in the right direction off the pitch, with lucrative sponsorship deals being agreed and improvements to the club’s pitch also taking place this year. 

On the pitch it hasn’t been all plain sailing for the O’s, who were in 19th place in the National League last November when Edinburgh replaced Steve Davis as head coach.

But Edinburgh has managed to turn Orient’s fortunes around, leading them to a mid-table finish last season and the O’s have started this campaign strongly, with the side currently sitting in 3rd place just one point away from league leaders Salford City.

There is a real feel good factor developing around the Breyer Group Stadium, with 4000 season tickets being sold and nearly 7000 fans watching the O’s fixture against Hartlepool United just over a week ago.

Travis has certainly been pleased with the way things have gone over the last year and emphasised his desire to get the club back into the Football League in the near future.

Speaking to talkSPORT on Friday, Travis said: “We’re really excited with what we’ve done over the last 18 months now. Our goal is to make it a sustainable club. We don’t believe in the model of losing money every year. There is a way to go for smaller clubs and I think we are doing incredible things at Leyton Orient.

“We’re one point off the top and that’s fine as it’s a long journey as we’ve got another 30 league games to go. Justin (Edinburgh) has put together a squad that we think is amazing.

“It’s mentioned in my book a lot but when we brought the club we started with one word: people. We wanted this to be a people club. We wanted it to be a friendly club, fan friendly and we wanted it to be a place where players wanted to come and stay. We’ve had players who have come on loan and don’t want to leave.

“Justin Edinburgh, since he came in at the end of last November, has done an amazing job. If you look at his away record I think he’s only lost two games or something like that. Justin is very straight forward, he’s very clear and I think that is what players want. But he’s also a guy you can have a good laugh with.

“We want the players to have a good time, we want the fans to have a good time and that is what’s happening. I truly believe we are going in the right direction. It may take a few years, but our goal is to get back to where we started in League One.”