In our new series at Everything Orient, we take a look at ex-Orient players, and in this case ex-managers, and see where their careers have taken them since their departure from Brisbane Road.
John Sitton is a very recognisable face at Brisbane Road, featuring for the club both as a player and as a manager. Before playing for the O's, Sitton featured for Chelsea, Gillingham and Millwall and later joined the east London side in 1985.
During a six-year stint with the club, Sitton made 174 appearances for the O's and spent a large majority of his career in east London. Furthermore, he departed the club in 1991 where he went onto play for Slough Town but would only make four appearances before retirement.
Just a few years after his retirement as a player, Sitton took his first managerial job as 'co-manager' alongside Chris Turner at his old stomping ground, Leyton Orient. The pair were brought in as caretaker managers following the departure of Peter Eustace. However, impressing during this time, the pair were offered the job on a permanent basis.
However, Sitton would only last one season as he and Chris Turner were sacked at the tail end of the 1994/95 season. In addition to this, during a documentary known as 'Orient: Club for a Fiver', Sitton went on an infamous rant that is still remebered to this day. With one of the key quotes being 'you can bring your f*****g dinner'.
Following this documentary, Sitton unfortunately struggled to get another job in management. John has openly spoken about his depression and the therapy he received and struggled to get a job ever since the documentary aired.
Therefore, Sitton took it upon himself to learn 'The Knowledge' in 1997 as he trained to become a London taxi driver. The former Orient player completed the course in 2003 and has worked as a taxi driver ever since.
However, the former manager did momentarily find a part-time job in football in 1998, working as a scout for Manchester City. Sitton strongly recommended singing a young Tim Cahill and Frank Lampard before a new manager cleared out the entire backroom staff.
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