Waltham Forest council has pledged its support to keeping Leyton Orient alive after the club was hit with a winding up petition.

The local authority held an emergency debate yesterday (Thursday, March 2) on the Brisbane Road side’s future following news owners will appear in the High Court over a £250,000 unpaid tax bill.

The council passed a motion agreeing to support any efforts to save the O’s from liquidation and called on Italian owner Francesco Becchetti sell the club.

Orient currently sit in the League Two relegation zone six points adrift of safety and risk dropping out of the Football League for the first time in 112 years.

Labour councillor and O’s season ticket holder, Paul Douglas, proposed the motion to back keeping a football club in the borough, which was passed unanimously.

Cllr Douglas said: “After a season of respite last year, this season has heaped more misery on us, we are facing relegation from the league for the first time in over 100 years.

“We are on our ninth manager since Francesco Becchetti took over.

“We have lost all our best players and replaced them with teenagers and are now under the threat of a winding up order and the very real prospect of relegation, administration or simply ceasing to exist.

“This motion therefore intends to put on record Waltham Forest council’s support to keep a Football League club in the borough.

“We will give our support to Orient and call on Francesco Becchetti to redouble his efforts to sell the club to someone who will take the job of keeping or taking the club back into the league seriously.”

According to The Gazette, the official public record, The O’s were presented with a winding up petition on February 2.

The petition will be presented in court and if not satisfied the judge can then make a winding up order.

The club and the creditors are to attend High Court on Monday, March 20 where the court will decide if the club is likely to pay the £250,000 sum.

If not they risk being liquidated.

Francesco Becchetti bought The O’s in 2014 for £4million from Barry Hearn when they were a penalty kick away from entering the Championship.

Since then, they have dropped out of League One and now look set to fall out of the Football League entirely.

The Leyton Orient Fans Trust (LOFT) has announced plans to set up a £250,000 fighting fund to save the club if needed.