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Leyton Orient make cheeky dig at Blackburn over new signing video in style of ‘The Traitors’

Leyton Orient make a cheeky dig at Blackburn over a new signing announcement video in the style of the hit BBC show ‘The Traitors’.

On the 23rd of January, Leyton Orient revealed the latest addition to their squad, with Ollie O’Neill coming in at the League One outfit.

They announced him in a video which showed this year’s contestants on The Traitors at the round table, giving their vote… then appears O’Neill.

A day later, Blackburn then did pretty much the same video, but changed the footballer to be defender Connor O’Riordan, who comes in from Crewe Alexandra.

Blackburn wrote to their tweet: “Who’s watching #TheTraitorsUK? 👀 🗣️ “Please write down the name of the person you believe is #Rovers’ newest signing…” ✍️”

This post however caught the attention of Leyton Orient, who tweeted: “This Blackburn announcement is one of the best I’ve ever seen. No but seriously that’s plagiarism.”

They added a photo of the famous meme of Frank Lampard with the two pics of his face, one happy and the other more serious.

But if we’re going to start squabbling over an transfer announcement video in the style of ‘The Traitors’, it seems the first to actually do it was Charlton, although in a different way.

On the 19th of January, the Addicks confirmed the signing of Freddie Ladapo, but for their video, they showed a scene from the show.

Claudia Winkleman makes the slow mo walk out of the castle to deliver the dreaded letter with Ladapo being told ‘It’s You’.

Twitter users couldn’t help but laugh as Leyton Orient make cheeky dig at Blackburn over new signing video in style of ‘The Traitors’…

@OrientLiam: announce another signing to make up for it #lofc

@rhysmcc44: Charlton did it first I do believe

@timofthetown: I think they’ve got better video editing software to be fair

@Robbeezley: Defo copied @leytonorientfc

@tommyw96: Nicked of Orient but did it better

@finley_dav13798: He could’ve put some more effort into that. The “I am a new signing” was a bit depressing🤣

@OneDahlTomasson: Hey @leytonorientfc if you’re looking to have a meltdown give your password to @Joey7Barton.

@OLBG: Some good #TheTraitors signing announcements this week 😂😂😂

SEE MORE: Blackburn’s official Twitter admin tells Joey Barton to ‘leave our town’ out of his ‘meltdown’

CHARLTON STATEMENT ON LADAPO:

Charlton Athletic are thrilled to announce the loan signing of prolific goalscorer Freddie Ladapo.

The 30-year-old striker, who joins the Addicks from Ipswich Town for the remainder of 2023/24, has been promoted from League One in each of the last two seasons and has hit double figures in his last four campaigns at this level.

He arrives at Charlton having made 22 appearances for Championship side Ipswich across all competitions this term.

Ladapo said: “I’m really happy to be joining Charlton. I’m so excited to be here and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve during the rest of the season.”

Michael Appleton said he was delighted to make Ladapo his sixth signing as Charlton Head Coach before being sacked. He explained at the time: “Freddie’s a massive goal threat who brings lots of quality. He’s a player who’s comfortable playing with his back to goal and running towards goal. He’s very quick, he’s athletic, he’s got a very good record at this level and he’s a really exciting signing. I think everyone is going to look forward to having him on board.”

Technical Director Andy Scott added: “Freddie is someone we’ve been after for a long time. He’s got a proven record of scoring goals in this league and getting promotions. He’s been at Ipswich most recently and shown he can compete in the Championship as well. It’s a major coup to be able to bring in a player of his quality.”

Born in Romford, Ladapo began his professional career at Colchester United.

While with the U’s, he took in loan spells with Thurrock, Chelmsford City, Bishop’s Stortford, Woking and Nuneaton Town.

He moved to Kidderminster Harriers in January 2014 and gained further experience on loan at Hayes & Yeading United and Grays Athletic, before joining Margate in early 2015.

After bagging 25 goals for the Gate, he completed a move to Crystal Palace following a successful trial period.

The striker then joined Oldham Athletic and Shrewsbury Town on loan and earned his Eagles debut in a Premier League clash at Manchester United in September 2017.

Ladapo returned to Southend, who he represented at youth level, in the winter of 2018 before signing for Plymouth Argyle ahead of the 2018/19 campaign.

He finished that season as Argyle’s top scorer with 19 goals, prompting Rotherham United to sign the forward for a club-record fee.

Ladapo scored 41 goals during his three seasons at Rotherham, securing automatic promotion to the Championship twice and also lifting the EFL Trophy.

He joined Ipswich Town ahead of the 2022/23 campaign and scored 17 league goals as the Tractor Boys secured a return to the Championship.

LEYTON ORIENT STATEMENT ON O’NEILL

Leyton Orient are delighted to announce the permanent signing of highly-rated winger Ollie O’Neill from Premier League club Fulham for an undisclosed fee.

The 21-year-old has signed a two-and-a-half-year deal in E10 and becomes the club’s second addition of the January transfer window, following the arrival of Brandon Cooper last week.

O’Neill played and scored against the O’s for Fulham U21 in the EFL Trophy earlier this season and he cannot wait to get going in East London.

He said: “I’m really excited to be starting the next chapter of my career at Leyton Orient, a club that feels like it has got real momentum behind it at the moment.

“I know that this is the right time for me to leave the nest of academy football. I had a good taste of senior football last season and now I’m ready to challenge myself in League One. I like to play wide, get on the ball, and create lots of chances for myself and my teammates.”

O’Neill was named as Fulham’s Scholar of the Year in 2021 and, last season, he claimed seven goals and five assists in just 12 appearances for the Cottagers’ U21s team.

In the second half of 2022/23, he gained important first-team experience with League of Ireland club Derry City where he made 19 appearances, scoring one goal.

On the international stage, O’Neill has represented Ireland from U16 level through to U21s and O’s Head Coach Richie Wellens is very pleased to have added him to his squad.

He said: “Ollie is an exciting young player and we are really pleased to get him on board. He is someone that we have been aware of for a while and we were really impressed with him in our EFL Trophy game against Fulham earlier this season.

“In the last few weeks, Ollie has trained with us, which I’m really grateful to Fulham and Lingy [Martin Ling] for organising that, so we already know a bit about him.

“He is someone who likes to get on the ball and make things happen. He can play right across the midfielder areas and I believe he can really grow and develop with us in the coming years.”

BLACKBURN STATEMENT ON O’RIORDAN

Rovers are delighted to complete the capture of Crewe Alexandra defender Connor O’Riordan.

A player with plenty of promise and potential for the future, the 20-year-old joins on a four-and-a-half-year deal that will keep him at Ewood Park until June 2028.

The exciting prospect started his career in the highly-respected Alex Academy at the age of six, before rising through the ranks and making his first team debut in a 2-0 victory over Doncaster Rovers in the Papa John’s Trophy in December 2021.

Aged just 18, he went on to make 13 appearances for Crewe that season, before joining Raith Rovers on a short-term loan deal at the start of the 2022-23 campaign.

The towering, ball-playing centre-half made 21 appearances for the Scottish Championship club, before returning to Gresty Road last January and going on to make a further 18 appearances for the Railwaymen during the second half of the season, scoring three goals.

This season, O’Riordan has been a mainstay in the Crewe defence, making 27 appearances for his hometown team, scoring a further three goals, including a brace in a 3-2 victory over Doncaster Rovers in November.

On the international scene, the commanding defender made his Republic of Ireland Under-21s debut in a 3-0 victory over Kuwait in June 2023, before earning a further two caps for his country in games against Latvia and Norway, where he played alongside Andy Moran and Zak Gilsenan.

O’Riordan will train with his new Rovers team-mates for the first time tomorrow, but is ineligible to feature in Monday’s FA Cup fourth round tie against Wrexham, having played in an earlier round for Crewe against Derby County.

Rovers’ Director of Football, Gregg Broughton, said: “We are delighted to welcome Connor to Blackburn Rovers and I would like congratulate Crewe for the incredible development work they have done over many years.

“Connor will bring an aerial presence in both boxes, a calmness in possession and a desire to do the ugly things needed to be a first-class defender.

“We have had to be patient with this signing, after initially having offers turned down by Crewe in the summer, and we have beaten significant interest from other clubs to conclude the deal.

“Our recruitment team have done a great job in both tracking Connor and then selling the club to him. Connor must also receive great credit for not allowing the speculation to affect him and being resolute that the only club he wanted to move to was Blackburn Rovers.”

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