Ling sacked as Orient face Shrimpers

Last updated : 19 January 2009 By Shrimpers24
The season's tradition of managers getting sacked as they are about to face Southend continued as ex-Blue Martin Ling joined the long list of League One bosses who have received their P45 this season. (At ten we are now approaching half the division! Slade at Yeovil should start getting nervous!)

Ling was the sixth longest serving manager in the Football League, having been appointed in September 2003 when the O's were second-bottom of League Two. Tilly moves up a place and is now the longest in the third tier.

Hearn met the managerial duo on Sunday morning and says the club's next manager will be an established name capable of preserving their League One status: "I won't be advertising the job. It will be an outside appointment and hopefully someone who has the appetite to get involved with a dogfight. This was the hardest decision I have had to make in 14 years as Orient chairman. Martin and Dean were more than just our manager and assistant - they were Orient legends and friends to everyone at the club. But we need to preserve our status at this level and this season has not been good enough, so we have to give ourselves long enough to turn things around."

Orient, who have won just two home games all season, suffered their 13th league defeat of the current campaign, when they were beaten 2-1 by Bristol Rovers on Saturday and they are currently fourth from bottom of League One.

The managerial pair took the players for a normal Sunday warm-down session before their meeting with Hearn, where they parted company by mutual consent.

Ling will be remembered as the manager that guided Orient out of the bottom division after 11 seasons and he improved their league position in each of the five seasons he was in charge.

Herne accepted that as he continued: "Martin has been a fantastic servant. I think we both knew in life you sometimes get to your sell-by date. I think even Martin knew it was time for a change. Martin has been fantastic for us for five years, getting us our first promotion in a tough business as smaller clubs have been up against it for a long time. Working with the budget he's had he's done a fantastic job but if we want to stay in League One we've got to roll the dice and see if we can so that's going to involve new personnel."

Orient skipper Stephen Purches admitted that the team had to take their share of the blame for Ling's departure and said: "It's never nice when people lose their jobs and it's disappointing for the players. The fact that we have not delivered on the pitch has played a part in the decisions that have been made."

Youth team manager Kevin Nugent has been appointed as caretaker manager and will take charge of the side for Tuesday's derby duel with Southend and the club hope to name a full-time successor within two weeks.

Tilly must look at all this mayhem and be very thankful he has a chairman who looks at the bigger picture.

With this important local derby a day away this is a great chance for Shrimpers everywhere to get behind the management and the club and show change is not always the way forward.

In T&B We Trust is the TLG headline, no sell by date for Tills just yet, and we stand by it.

COME ON YOU BLUES!!!!!