Barry Hearn has revealed his regrets about leaving Leyton Orient following their play-off final defeat in 2014...and in particular, what happened to the club immediately following his departure.
The former Orient chairman took over the club in 1995 and had to endure two unsuccessful League Two play-off finals in 11 seasons before the club finally got themselves into the third tier through automatic promotion.
But it only took one League One play-off final, in 2014, for Hearn to decide to call time on his time in charge.
Leyton Orient were two goals up at half time, but Alex Revell's quickfire brace restored parity on the hour before Rotherham went on to triumph in a penalty shootout.
Hearn told FourFourTwo: "Jesus, I’m still having therapy about that day. Not only did it crush the entire fanbase, but it cost me a fortune!”
Hearn sold his 90% sure in Orient within the next few months following a conversation with his family around the dinner table
“I said to them all ‘Look, I’ve had an offer, it’s acceptable, I’ve had 19 years of grief and now I want to know what you lot think’,” Hearn recalled
“[Son] Eddie went first. He said ‘You know what, dad? It costs us a bit of money, but there’s nothing quite like driving home from an away game when you’ve had a win, let’s keep it’.
"Then my daughter goes ‘Dad, we all love you, but don’t die leaving this club round our neck’.
"Lastly, I looked at my wife. As in any working-class family, she’s the one that really makes the decisions. She just glanced up from her dinner plate and said ‘Get rid’. And that was it.”
The club subsequently plummeted into non-league under new owner Francesco Becchetti, who was himself gone from the club just three years later following a winding-up order against the club and protests against the Italian.
Hearn lamented: "I would never have sold if I’d thought that was going to happen. Hindsight is a wonderful advisor."
He nonetheless has largely good memories of his time in charge, saying: “I knew nothing whatsoever about football, but we still did so much good.
"We built three quarters of a new stadium without borrowing a penny. We thought outside the box. I got planning permission on a block of flats in each of the four corners that no-one used anyway, and it generated £8.5m.
"When I go up to heaven to organise their affairs properly, and my life is played back to me, some of my happiest memories will have been at Leyton Orient."
