Flicking through an autograph book reveals a forgotten signature from when the future star was a raw 17-year-old on loan at Brisbane Road
By Ben Mapp
My Leyton Orient autograph book from the 2010-11 season usually sits buried at the back of a cupboard among hundreds of programmes, teamsheets and other mementos. It’s a slim, hardback pad, a club shop staple from the days when autographs were the prize, not selfies.
Inside are the signatures of players who, for a few fleeting months 15 years ago, were my heroes: Jamie Jones, Dean Cox, Kevin Lisbie, Paul-José M’Poku, and a dozen others who will always mean more to Orient fans than they ever did to the wider football world. And tucked away near the back of the book is a scrawl that has since become my most valuable piece of football memorabilia: the autograph of Harry Kane.
Most of those signatures came the same way. Before kick-off I’d head to the front of the North Stand at Brisbane Road with the other kids, leaning over the hoardings to catch the players on their way back from warm-ups. Most were happy to stop for an eight-year-old in full Orient merchandise, poised with a biro and book at the ready.
Kane’s signature came on March 26, 2011, the day Orient were thumped 5-1 at home by Yeovil Town in League One. It was my birthday present from the previous December: tickets to a game of my choice, and I’d picked this one so I could take my friend Blake. It was his first and only Orient game and, given the scoreline, it’s fair to say I didn’t sell him on the idea of coming back. Kane didn’t even make it off the bench that day.
We certainly weren’t rating the Spurs loanee highly at the time. We’d seen him play a few games after joining in January, and both my dad and I thought he looked a bit slow, nothing special. He was just another teenager trying to find his feet in senior football. Dad still jokes about it now: “Remember when we thought Kane wouldn’t make it at Orient?”
That season was my Orient sweet spot. I was too young to go to my beloved Spurs regularly, and Billericay Town, my local non-League club, was fine for home matches but the away trips were a bit much for an eight-year-old. Orient was the perfect middle ground. We picked up some great games: a thrilling comeback to draw with Bournemouth, a late 1-0 win over Oldham, and a stoppage-time victory against Peterborough.
Kane hardly caught the eye. Against Oldham he was hooked just after the hour. In that home game with Peterborough, he made way for Ryan Jarvis – who scored the 96th-minute winner. And versus Tranmere he lasted 71 minutes before being replaced. Kane finished with five goals from 18 games during his Orient loan, but I never actually saw him score. At the time, he blended into the churn of loanees that passed through the club.
The book itself has aged remarkably well. It’s still mint, the biro as clear as the day it was signed. The pages aren’t even half-full; the blank spaces remind me I only managed a handful of games that year. One page even features the autograph of Orient mascot Theo the Wyvern, preserved alongside the professionals. None of it has any real monetary value, but like all football memorabilia, its worth lies in the memories pressed between the pages.
The Kane signature is the one that has transformed over time. When I dug out the book for the first time in years, I didn’t expect to find the England captain’s name scrawled across one of the pages. I’d completely forgotten it was there. In my book he remains just a 17-year-old handing back a pad to a kid in an Orient shirt. Now, though, it’s the signature of my all-time favourite Spurs player, one of the greatest strikers of his generation.
I sometimes wonder what Blake remembers of that Yeovil match. Probably very little, if indeed anything. For me, though, it’s inseparable from that autograph: the small act that turned a keepsake into a treasured piece of football history. That’s the magic of lower league football – you never quite know who’s going to be on the pitch, on the bench, or leaning over to sign your book. And you never quite know which of those fleeting moments will stay with you long after the final whistle.
This article first appeared in WSC 457, October 2025. Subscribers get free access to the complete WSC digital archive
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Tags: Harry Kane, Leyton Orient, Object Lessons