New head coach calls on fans to play massive part in the future
Ian Hendon was appointed as Leyton Orient head coach late last week and he believes exciting times are coming up for the Brisbane Road club.
O’s had parted company with previous boss Fabio Liverani on May 13 and, after president Francesco Becchetti interviewed various candidates for the job, they decided Hendon was the right man to lead the E10 outfit forward.
The 43-year-old, who captained Orient during a four-year spell with the club, addressed the media for the first time last week and believes he can bring stability to a side that had four different managers last season, which ended in relegation.
Hendon has been given a two-year contract by Becchetti, but he wants to remain in the charge for a lot longer than that.
“After speaking to the chairman, the club are looking for stability,” said Hendon.
“It is a results-based business, if the results go well I shall be in a job – if they don’t then it is for everyone else to decide if I stay.
“But I want to get this club back to where they want to go, whether that takes two years, three years or four years.
“My aim is to be here in two years, but I want to be here longer than that because I want to take the club to where they want to go and where the chairman wants to go. To do that we have obviously got to be successful within the first two years of my contract.”
The Orient president ultimately wants to take the club to the Championship and chief executive Alessandro Angelieri reiterated how Becchetti views the Brisbane Road outfit as a long-term project and will not be selling the club, despite some rumours insisting otherwise.
Orient hope the appointment of Hendon can help them reconnect with the fans after a horrid 2014/15 campaign where many believe the club lost its identity.
The new man in charge insisted the supporters will be key and asked them to back the team.
“The fans are going to be massive and the support at every football club is,” added Hendon.
“I have just come from West Ham where the support for the manager Sam Allardyce wasn’t the best and I think the results and everything else that happened were due to a lack of support.
“We need 100 per cent from the fans and I want them to be 100 per cent behind the team on a Saturday when we go out on to the pitch because it can only help us.”
Hendon admitted winning will help the team reconnect with the supporters and insisted it doesn’t matter how you win games.
He spoke passionately at his opening press conference and you could really hear how much Orient means to him.
This is his first opportunity in management since leaving Dover Athletic in July 2011 and on being back as a head coach, he said: “I couldn’t think of a better club to be manager of.
“After meeting the owner and the chief executive and seeing where they want to go with this club, it is a great opportunity for me and a very exciting time for Leyton Orient.
“It doesn’t matter how you get a win, so hopefully the fans see winning football from my team.
“There are various ways of playing and you have to adapt to the teams you come up against and how they play football.
“You can’t go through a season and just play one style of play because people will work you out, so we will be adjustable.”
A big summer is ahead for O’s and Hendon, but he is motivated to achieve success.
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