Former Leyton Orient manager John Sitton, whose half-time rant in 1995 went viral decades later, insists his behaviour was no different to Pep Guardiola's emotional outbursts under pressure at Manchester City.
Sitton, a former Chelsea and Millwall defender, is best remembered by fans outside London for his furious team talk during a 1-0 defeat to Blackpool in 1995. Orient were in Division 2, then the second tier of English football, and were battling relegation amid financial turmoil. Sitton had been appointed from his role as youth team coach, and despite keeping the club up in his first season, they slipped towards the drop.
The 'Club for a Fiver' documentary
Channel 4 was filming a fly-on-the-wall documentary at the club, called Orient: Club for a Fiver, one of the first of its kind. At half-time of the home match against Blackpool, Sitton lambasted his players, sacked his friend and club favourite Terry Howard on the spot after nine years, and offered to fight two other players, telling them to "bring their dinner" and "gang up" on him. The dressing down didn't pay off—Orient lost the game, and Sitton left the club months later.
Speaking exclusively to Daily Star Sport, Sitton recalled the incident and how the "circus" of the club's ownership drove him to snap. He said: "There was loads of stuff going on behind the scenes, lots of arguments, lots of toxicity, lots of rows. I was advised by the youth development officer, Bernie Dixon, not to take it."
Financial struggles and regrets
Sitton explained that he was offered the job on a full-time basis in the summer of 1994, but agreed to "Mickey Mouse money" and a short contract. He said the club was losing £520,000-a-year, and he was told the squad had to be trimmed. "The way it turned out, it cost me my career, it cost the club," he said.
Sitton also revealed that he brought the idea of the documentary to the board after being approached. He said: "I relayed it to the board and they said, 'What do you think?' And I said: 'Well, the truth be told, it could be a good idea because when you look at what we're doing behind the scenes'."
Comparing to Guardiola's meltdown
Sitton expressed embarrassment about the viral clip, saying: "I'm quite embarrassed by it if I'm honest. The embarrassment wears off but initially I was completely embarrassed, and I just thought, God, what have I done." He added: "It's like most chances I've had in life, I was given a chance at a big club and I blew it."
Referencing Guardiola's emotional outbursts in the documentary A Beautiful Obsession, where the City boss ranted about his divorce from Cristina Serra after a 2-0 defeat to Juventus, Sitton said: "You're talking about allegedly the best cultural manager in the world. He loses the plot." He added: "He starts bringing his personal life into it, which me and my wife agreed, that's basically nothing to do with the players, it's emotional blackmail."
Sitton never returned to professional management after leaving Orient, but worked as a scout at Manchester City and a coach at non-league clubs in London. In 2016, he released his autobiography A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing – A Life In Football, and he hosts the 'John Sitton Podcast: Football Uncensored' on YouTube.
