Martin Ling is a Leyton Orient legend. Player, coach, caretaker, manager, director of football, involved in three promotions. Ling was brought back by the new owners in 2017 and helped rebuild the club after the nightmare of Becchetti’s ownership.
Helped guide the club through the devastating loss of the hugely popular manager Justin Edinburgh in 2019.
Helped guide the club through the pandemic. Given his own past issues with depression, Ling could offer good counsel to others, when needed. His door was always open for players, staff to come in and talk.
Ling has done so much for Leyton Orient on and off the field. He’s now left the club. Strange timing? Surely wait until end of the season? Chairman Nigel Travis explained club thinking to fans, telling Orient TV that “every organisation evolves” but they were “not replacing Martin directly”.
Travis has fulsome praise and respect for a “great player, great manager and terrific director of football." But given how much Ling has done for the club, he deserved a proper send-off. As Travis himself says, "Nobody has contributed more to Leyton Orient than Martin Ling". #LOFC




