The O’s released a statement at 11pm on Saturday, with the boss saying sorry for a “stupid comment” he made about Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou.

“I’m not going to make excuses, I’m not Ange Postecoglou.”

Leyton Orient boss Richie Wellens on injuries, after his side lost today:

🗣️“I’m not Ange Postecoglou, keep using it as an excuse.”

Staggering disrespect… Spurs should recall Jamie Donley and Josh Keeley immediately, and put them on loan elsewhere… 🤔pic.twitter.com/hIWXUis4XD

— Football Confidential 🌐 (@footballconfid1) February 1, 2025

Tottenham fell to 16th in the Premier League, not helped by an injury crisis that has left them without nine first-team players for Sunday’s trip to Brentford.

Wellens has withdrew the comments, saying he was “deeply embarrassed”.

“After today’s game, I was asked about the injuries within our squad and, without thinking, I made a stupid comment about Tottenham Hotspur.

“That comment was brought to my attention later in the evening and, having watched my interview back, I am deeply embarrassed and regret what I said.

“At Leyton Orient we have a strong relationship with Tottenham Hotspur and it was never my intention to say anything that would jeopardise that. Their manager, Ange Postecoglou, is a world-class coach and I want to apologise for my comments and wish Spurs all the very best for the second half of the season.”

Tottenham have a close relationship with Orient, with academy players Jamie Donley and Josh Keeley on loan at the club until the end of the season, while former Spurs captain Harry Kane had a loan spell there early in his career.

“We started really slow and lethargic. We passed the ball slow and didn’t win enough duals, which isn’t like us, which gave them a leg up in the game.

“Second half we gave it a good go but didn’t make their goalkeeper work. We looked leggy and you need to get up to speed quick. I think the players’ mindset was to try and manage their way though.

“The referee was out of his depth today which is surprising when you’ve got a top of the table game. I’ve never seen him before, he’s not an experienced official and I thought he was poor in all aspects but we’ve also got ourselves to blame.

“We knew we had injuries but that’s not an excuse because we prepared for that and too many times in the first half the instructions we give them on the training ground were not carried out. That put us on the back foot.”

“It’s three points, no more, no less,”

“We still have 17 games to go. We knew it would be difficult coming here with Orient on an unbeaten run of 11 games.

“A point wouldn’t have been the worst result but we set out to be really positive and we dominated the first half, made the breakthrough and should have been more in front.

“The second half we had to be a little different and sit in but we’ve taken a valuable three points. We should have been out of sight as we created some fantastic opportunities but we defended our goal well and we’ve done the job we set out to do and I’m delighted with that.

“They played a lot of diagonals and crosses but we nullified a lot of their attacks. Our keeper didn’t have a save to make in the second half despite all the possession Orient had and that was down to what was in front of him.

“We’ve defended crosses that have come in and then, at the end, they went direct and played diagonals and we dealt with all that.

“I’d like two or maybe three more in before the transfer window closes, which would be a welcome boost, as we have a lot of inexperience in our bench.”

: We’ll take our lads back now thank you

: Tbf he really wasn’t wrong 😂

: Recall the lads let this lot get relegated.

: Too late, he has said it. If the club stick with him, good luck getting any future loans out of Spurs, bin off the friendlies too. What a tool. If I was Spurs, I’d arrange another loan for Keeley, then bring them both back tomorrow. Donley can get some game time with 1st XI.

: If Spurs had a backbone they’ll recall Donley & Keeley

: Let’s see what he does with 12 players available with 3 of them being teenagers. Let’s see

: That’s it, recall Donley and Keeley immediately! How dare he? 😆

: No class at all. Very disappointing comment given the very deep relationship between the two clubs.

: Fan of both clubs, absolutely baffling comment to make about a team you have good relations with that has given you two of your best players when we’re battling a genuinely insane injury crisis.

: Can we have Josh & Donley back now then?

: Couldn’t care less about the comment itself but why the random shot two leagues up? Is the guy an Arsenal fan or disgruntled spurs plan? You start two of his players every week and they’re playing great for you, what could possibly make you think that was a smart comment

: Disappointed & disrespected by @leytonorientfc’s coach! Many Tottenham fans, including me, have been supporting their team’s progress, proud to see our academic players excelling. Yet, their coach throws shade at our club? Uncalled for!

: Give us back keeley and donley and see how you get on buddy. 🤷🏼‍♂️

: To all the spurs fans in the comments rate your going we’ll see you next year so calm down focus on your relegation battle

: That is extremely poor from Richie Wellens, he should know better. Spurs fans are proud of the relationship with Orient. We look out for their results and hope the team is doing well.

: “That comment was brought to my attention later in the evening and having watched my interview back I am deeply embarrassed and regret what I said. We don’t want your apologies you beggars.

: Stupid thing to say and he deserves a it if we recall Donley & Keeley after that but it’s also a sign of how bad Ange is when league 1 coaches are bantering him. #angeout

: If anything, Ange has been the one who makes the least excuses and accepts responsibility of the situation. Apologies to Ange.

: Just really wasn’t that deep was it

: Didn’t think spurs fans would get this rattled but here we are

: What that statement actually means: “I thought I’d get some likes on social media by jumping on the ‘let’s all laugh at Tottenham’ banter train, despite the fact two of their players are basically propping us up right now. Now I’ve had a massive bollocking from my bosses, so the PR team have written this statement for me.”

: @SpursOfficial you should recall those players and leave them high and dry 🤗

@JuhlTHFC: Yeah sack him or we are taking our players back thx

@markwillow80: If I was @SpursOfficial I’d be retracting the 2 loanees, see how that works out for him