LEYTON Orient legend Matt Lockwood has revealed he wants to one day come back to the club.

The former O’s left-back told the Guardian he closely follows the fortunes of the team, and that he let his head rule his heart when he departed Brisbane Road for Nottingham Forest two years ago.

And, though Geraint Williams is currently doing a wonderful job, having led the club to League One safety, Lockwood said he would not mind becoming manager in the future.

He said: “At 30, how could I turn down Forest? They’ve won the European Cup twice, it’s a massive club, and financially it was worth me going. I just couldn’t say no. It was the hardest decision I’ve had to make. I was at a club I love and the club loved me. That’s a rare thing. I was settled.

“I joked to the chairman that I wanted to be O’s boss one day,” he added.

Now in the autumn of his career and a new dad, the 32-year-old is gaining his coaching badges. Thoughts turn to his future, and Orient looms large.

“I’d love to return in some capacity, as I never wanted to leave in the first place.”

Talk to Lockwood, and it is clear his passion for Orient is still as strong as one of his hallmark pile-driver shots. That is obvious when he quips about his dream of one day being the manager who keeps Orient in the Premier League.

“I follow the O’s all the time,” he said. “And I was never worried they would go down. It didn’t look good when you looked at the table, but you knew they had it in them to put a run together. I didn’t think Orient had anything to worry about. Geraint Williams is a very good manager. Players really respond to him.

“In this league, anyone can beat anyone. And I’ve been able to watch a lot of games.”

That is because this season has been a write-off for Lockwood at Colchester United, his current club. He has spent time on loan at League Two Barnet and is battling tendinitis in his knee, being treated by the doctor who also treats Inter Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the same problem. It kept him out of the action on Saturday when Orient beat Colchester 2-1 at Brisbane Road.

The result was a turnaround from Christmas, when the U’s defeated Orient during ex-boss Martin Ling’s final days.

“When Martin and Dean got sacked I was gutted for them,” Lockwood said. “They were probably the most successful managers Orient have had in the last 20 years. But football is a results business, and the chairman didn’t want relegation, because it took so long to get out of League Two, so he’d do anything to stop going back down there.”

Lockwood still feels the hairs on his neck rise at the memory of when the O’s lifted themselves into League One with a last-minute goal on the last day of the season at Oxford United.

“Our fans packed it out and were brilliant all day. That was amazing.”