"You Can't Buy Class"
Celebrating 70 years since the birth of Laurie Cunningham: one of Orient's true pioneers
Four successive wins have pulled Orient away from the relegation zone and just about banished worries that the season would end in a nasty relegation scrap. This spell is an abrupt and welcome turnaround from an anguished start to 2026, and onlookers have offered a few explanations for it: from the departure of a long-serving Director of Football, to changes in the Manager’s behaviour, or possibly the arrival of a new Coach. Any or all of these may well be true, but they all overlook something that happened in the aftermath of our dismal defeat at Bradford: a revival of the Cunningham spirit at the Club.
Had he not died so tragically young, Laurie Cunningham would have turned 70 on 8th March this year. His niece Rhodene still lives locally and when we got in touch with her in January she explained how keen the family was to mark the occasion properly. So when the Leyton Orient Trust told us they were preparing to open the old changing rooms under the East Stand as a museum and exhibition space, a plan began to form. Given this was the place that Laurie spent so much time with his team-mates before and after games at the start of his stellar career, having his family officially open it seventy years to the day after he was born seemed like the perfect way to celebrate.
Trust CEO Neil Taylor says: “over the years we’ve been passionate about celebrating the life of Laurie and keeping his memory alive. Alongside the Club, the Trust campaigned for the statue that is now on display in Coronations Gardens and has focused on inspiring children and young people about his story. This has included commissioning a dance routine from local Dance Charity X7 which was performed on the pitch in 2017 during half time and more recently using Black History Month to produce a Primary School work pack which is delivered to local schools. The Trust was delighted to be invited to be part of the Family’s 70th Birthday celebrations and look forward to future collaborations.”
You shouldn’t need reminding why Laurie is such a totemic figure at the Os, although it will do no harm to revisit some of those reasons: he is the only Orient player ever to go on to play for Real Madrid, the only one since the war that went on to play for Manchester United, one of only three to play in a European Cup Final, one of only four since the war to play for England (and two of the others were only with Orient briefly on loan), and one of just 7 since the war who went on to win the FA Cup as a player. And of course he’s the only one to have achieved all of those things.
This is enough to explain why he is the single most talented footballer ever to pull on the Orient colours – but to understand why he is also the most important footballer to do so we need to consider his status as a pioneer and as a role model for Black excellence when the country was more hostile to that than it is today. Laurie’s example had impact beyond the path he created for other footballers, by inspiring supporters and provoking change across wider British society too. Even if we only concern ourselves with parochial matters, he helped set Orient on the road to becoming one of England’s more forward thinking, inclusive football clubs, as Tom Collins – an Orient fan of the era later recalled - ‘a lot of my Black mates changed their allegiance from Spurs and Arsenal to Orient and carried around pictures of Laurie, [even if they] didn’t feel confident enough to come with us’
By happy co-incidence, Orient’s Club Historian Davis Watson was also born on 8th March, and was delighted to spend his own birthday helping show Laurie’s family around the new space as well as the various other spots around the stadium where Laurie is commemorated. Davis reminded us that “after joining on trial in April 1972, Laurie spent five years at Brisbane Road – longer than he spent at any other Club - making 96 first team appearances and scoring 18 goals. He picked up several accolades, including ‘Player of the Tournament’ at the 1976 London Five-a-Side Championship, and his move to West Brom in March 1977 was for a then club record fee of £110,000. Seventy years on from his birth, we continue to remember and celebrate Laurie’s pioneering efforts in football and his special contribution to the history of our beloved club”.
Davis is also curating the first exhibition in this new space, which will celebrate another seventieth anniversary – this time of the 1955/56 Third Division South championship season. This display will be open for the final match of the season on May 2nd and will feature a large array of memorabilia from the time, including the recently discovered Club minute book (dating from 1958-1980) and the replica shield currently on display in Reception. Davis is also hoping to welcome some relatives of players from that 1956 team.
Other events in early planning stages include: a quiz to determine who should be awarded the title of Orient Mastermind, a celebration of 40 years of the Leyton Orientear, and an exhibition of previously unseen photographs from the incredible 2024/5 campaign.
But for now, we shall leave the final words to Laurie’s great friend and team-mate Bobby Fisher. When we asked Bobby to describe his feelings about Laurie he told us “you can buy style, but you can’t buy class. Class on the pitch, class in clothes, class on the dancefloor, class of thought, class in how he lived his life, class as a human being. Think Fred Astaire, in a different skin”.
Happy Birthday Laurie Cunningham, born seventy years ago and young forever.
Acknowledgements: great credit must go to Lucy and Pa at the Club for being so accommodating in supporting the party in The Gallery after the tour. A private celebration in the traditional Cunningham style - just as in years gone by when the family would often be surprised by Laurie dropping in unannounced.
Thanks also to Neal Jackson for his excellent photography and generosity with his time.
Well done Neil, Aynsley, Davis, Pa, Lucy and all concerned.
Nice commemoration of our superstar, a genuine hero to so many of us who were lucky enough to see him play.
That changing room ensemble picture is possibly my favourite football photo ever. There is something timeless about it