A crippling injury forced Alan Comfort into early retirement at Leyton Orient - but he is now using his religion to help out at Brisbane Road.

Comfort was 25 and a winger with a bright future when he suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury that meant him hanging up his boots for good.

The devastating blow could have ruined him. Comfort had only ever been a footballer.

So he decided to pursue his only other passion and study Christianity.

He said: "I picked up the knee injury in November 1989. It wasn't a bad tackle, I actually got hurt after being pushed.

"Within six months I was told that I would not be able to play at that level again, and I was truly shocked.

"Apart from football, the only other thing I really cared about was my belief in God, so I decided to look further into that."

Comfort attended Cambridge Theological College and spent three years studying to ensure he would be able to find work.

And he found a way to combine his love of football and God.

He explained: "Everyone else on the course had done a degree, but all I knew was football.

"It was difficult but it actually worked out well thanks to the communication skills I had developed in my time at Middlesbrough and Orient.

"In 1994 I began to work at a church near West Ham's training ground in Chadwell Heath and from there I became Club Chaplain at Leyton Orient."

Comfort remains in his role with the O's to this day and loves the fact he has been able to stay in football.

He said: "It's a fulfilling position. Until two years ago I even trained with the first team once a week but now my knee has deteriorated to such a degree that I can't join in.

"I still go into the dressing rooms and I know all the players.

"My role is to spot whether a player seems unhappy and if that's the case then I talk to them and try to help them.

"Players have all sorts of problems. Settling into a new area can be difficult. Wives have miscarriages, that sort of thing.

"And in one tragic case a player's brother was murdered. I am always there for them."

In the area he is now better known as the Reverend Alan Comfort thanks to his position at St Mary's Church in Loughton, Essex.

Comfort added: "At Orient it is difficult to monitor how well my work is going down, but when I am at the church I can see how many people are turning up to listen to me.

"I loved to make an impression when I was a player, and that hasn't changed. At my church, things happen.

"I'm very happy. I've found a way to combine my two passions in life. Not many people can say that."