Waltham Abbey resident explains impact two coaches at the Championship club have had on his career to date

Martin Brennan has paid tribute to Kit Symons and Sean Reed for helping him grow as a coach in recent seasons.

The 33-year-old has spent the last four years at Fulham as the goalkeeper coach of the development team before moving up to work with the first team.

Brennan has now departed Craven Cottage to work with the goalkeepers at Leyton Orient and is currently with them in Italy.

Speaking recently, the ex-Dagenham & Redbridge stopper, discussed what he learnt with the west Londoners.

“I’ve had some very good times at Fulham. Hans Segers brought me in to work with the under-21s initially while he was doing the first team,” said Brennan.

“After I worked with Kit Symons and Sean Reed and that was a fantastic experience. I really developed as a coach working with those two guys.

“They allowed me to work with the forwards and do a bit of defensive work with the goalkeepers.

“Hans left in 2014 and Felix Magath stepped us up for the last eight games in the Premier League – that was a great experience, but devastating because we didn’t get enough results in the end.

“He obviously moved on and then Kit got the job and I stayed with the first team and worked with them for the last two years.”

During Brennan’s time at Fulham, he has seen various different goalkeepers come and go in west London.

He revealed his delight at seeing Gabor Kiraly represent Hungary in the 2016 European Championships.

The new O’s goalkeeper coach explained how much he has learnt from his time at Craven Cottage.

“We had Gabor Kiraly and it’s been great to see him play at the Euro’s with Hungary and what he has achieved. He is an absolute gentlemen and I’m delighted he got to play there,” said Brennan.

“It’s been great to work with Marcus Bettinelli, Neil Etheridge and the likes of Mark Schwarzer and David Stockdale.

“There has been some great goalkeepers at the club. They were all different characters and personalities with different challenges and aims of where they want to go, but it’s been a great experience.”