Colchester condemn fans’ ‘vile chants’ about Justin Edinburgh at Leyton Orient

Colchester United have condemned a section of their support for singing about the death of the former Leyton Orient manager Justin Edinburgh during their League Two match on Saturday.

Edinburgh, the former Tottenham, Southend and Portsmouth full-back, led Orient to the National League title four years ago shortly before dying from a cardiac arrest in June 2019, and has a stand named in his honour at Brisbane Road.

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After Saturday’s match, in which Colchester scored two late goals to rescue a point against the league leaders, the Essex club issued a statement condemning the chants. “Not for the first time this season a very small minority of those in the away section have acted in a shameful manner,” it read.

“This time making vile chants that no decent person would make and are in no way shared by Colchester United or the vast majority of Colchester United fans. We will cooperate with Leyton Orient should there be any further investigations.”

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The Colchester fan group Blue White Army also condemned the chanting. “On behalf of all decent @ColU_Official fans we have made a £50.00 donation towards the Justin Edinburgh Foundation [the charity set up after his death]. We hope this makes a small amends for the deplorable chants by a section of our fanbase today.”