Now the season is over I want to look back at our first season in the National League. For me, the season was a mix bag of emotions and performances! But how much of that was due to the management? If we stuck with Davis would have relegation been on the cards and can Edinburgh lead us back into the football league next season?
Read on for my verdict!
Steve Davis Era
All Competitions: W 6 D 5 L 11 - Scored 26 Conceded 34
Steve Davis joined us in July 2017, just 3 weeks post takeover. He was a free agent having been let go by Crewe Alexandra in January 2017 after over 5 years with the club. Prior to his sacking he was the fourth longest reigning manager in the top four divisions.
He came with good previous experience with working with younger players whilst as Crewe manager and was likely to have been one of the reasons he got the job at Orient. We had a pretty big cohort of youngsters in and around the first team last summer and it was hoped that with some experienced signings, he could take us straight back up into the football league.
In just a short space of time, Davis had assembled what seemed a good squad with a mix of non-league and football league players to go with our youth team players. The season started well for Davis with us only losing twice in eight games, albeit those both being pretty poor games, the first one on National TV on the opening day of the season and then losing to Bromley 6-1.
Unfortunately for Davis, the wheels started to fall off when he lost three key players in Charlie Lee, Josh Coulson and George Elokobi. The injuries resulted in us losing three strong leaders on the pitch in just 4 weeks and the squad players that had to fill the gaps just weren’t good. The impact of our injury crisis was evident as we subsequently went on a run of 11 games with no wins.
While I have no doubt that we were hit hard by injuries and that was reflected in our performance, I think the game against Gateshead at home was when fans started to turn against him. Davis played three different formations in the first 45 minutes and the players seemed to lose their trust in him. We were struggling to keep clean sheets, with both leaders at the back still injured and Davis just didn’t seem to have the answers. On November 14th, Davis was sacked.
Davis was a nice guy, maybe too nice. His style of football for the Orient meant we would not be very physical in games, a must in the conference. We would have lots of possession but wouldn’t really threaten the opposition defence. I hear he is linked with the Chester FC job, I genuienly hope he gets it and is successful there.
Justin Edinburgh Era
All Competitions: W 14 D 7 L 8 - Scored 46 Conceded 26
After a couple of games under assistant Ross Embleton, Orient appointed Justin Edinburgh. He came with experience of managing two clubs in the National Conference, Rushden & Diamonds (February 2009 – July 2011) and Newport County (October 2011 – February 2015). At Newport County he got them to the FA trophy final in his first year and the following year saw them promoted to the Football League via the playoffs.
After losing to Solihull Moors in his opening game and seeing us sit fifth bottom in the league, he promised he would get us out of this mess. The very next game saw our first league win in 16 games when we won 4-1 to then fifth in the league - Sutton United. The huge relief around the ground was obvious! We then went on a mini run, only losing twice in 11 games, with fans dreaming of us gate crashing the playoffs!
In January, Edinburgh brought in some key players in Brophy, Adams and Ling among others. Their presence gave us a bit more bite on the pitch, especially in Adams commanding the midfield. Our playing style evolved and we were now attacking the game with purpose and focus rather than our possession dominating midfield as in recent times. The team was further strengthened with the return of Coulson and Elokobi from injury. He also gave the captaincy to McAnuff which seem to inspire him to better performances and lead the team to a stable end of the season.
Unfortunately the season petered out with us losing in the quarter final of the FA Trophy when we were 3-0 up at home with 20 minutes to play and losing a couple of games in the league to weaker teams. Nevertheless, we finished in a respectable position of 13th.
When Edinburgh joined you could tell straight from the off that the players wanted to play for him. He made a big call in putting Brill in goal over the two youngsters and that definitely paid off, so much so that in his time with us, Edinburgh had the best defensive record in the league. Considering where we was when Edinburgh took over, he has done well and was the right appointment. I look forward to a much more successful season next year under his management.
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