Leyton Orient appoint Fletcher as new head coach
Carl Fletcher during his stint as manager of Plymouth Argyle (Pic: PA) - Credit: PA Archive/PA Images
Leyton Orient has appointed Carl Fletcher as the new head coach to lead the club forward until the end of the 2020/21 season.
The former midfielder will become the permanent successor to Justin Edinburgh, who tragically passed away aged 49 in June following a cardiac arrest, and joins from Premier League outfit Bournemouth.
The 39-year-old has been working as loan manager at the Cherries having previously had a coaching role with their under-23 side.
Fletcher also spent two years in charge of Plymouth Argyle between 2011 and 2013 following his playing career where he enjoyed spells at the likes of West Ham United, Crystal Palace and also played internationally for Wales.
He made 218 appearances for Bournemouth across eight seasons before moving to West Ham in 2004.
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Fletcher then appeared in the 2006 FA Cup final against Liverpool before spells with Palace and Plymouth.
The former Welsh international was then made player/manager of Plymouth where his journey into coaching and management began.
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At the age of just 31 with the club being having financial issues he kept the Pilgrims in League Two before re-joining Bournemouth where he has been ever since working closely with first-team manager Eddie Howe.
Director of football, Martin Ling, said: "The board went through the interview process with Carl and he kept coming out on top.
"He has the leadership skills, which he obviously had as a captain of many team he was at including his country.
"Everything that we were looking for, he ticked every box.
"Everyone we spoke to said everything we wanted to hear. We spoke to Stephen Purches at Bournemouth; we had people speak to Eddie Howe and Charlie Daniels. "We spoke to a couple of players who played under him at Plymouth as well as the people at board level at Bournemouth and they all said the same thing - they believe he's going to make a top-class football manager."
Ross Embleton, who was named interim Orient manager after the death of Edinburgh, will revert back to his former role of assistant coach.
Interim coach Danny Webb and interim player-coach Jobi McAnuff will also form part of Fletcher's backroom team.
