O’s employees still haven’t received their wages for March and according to their Italian chairman it is down to a new bank account

Leyton Orient chairman Francesco Becchetti has told boss Omer Riza he will pay everybody at the club and has insisted the problem over paying staff and players is down to a new bank account.

The O’s were in action again today and suffered a 3-0 defeat at League Two rivals Cambridge United despite a spirited showing.

Riza was without several experienced players due to injury and explained what he had been told by Orient’s chairman during a meeting with him this week.

“I saw him yesterday and he said, as he did to me and ‘Webby’ (Danny Webb) in our last meeting, that he will honour the contracts of the players,” said Riza.

“He spoke about the technicality of a new bank account and once that is sorted he will pay everybody and I can only take that on face value.

“If somebody looks me in the face and says that is happening there is nothing else I can do. I have to believe that and I want to.”

Riza was quizzed about what the intentions of the Italian were, but admitted they only spoke about the current campaign.

Orient have five games left and could suffer relegation to the National League next Friday if they lose at Luton Town and results elsewhere go against them.

“We haven’t spoke about the future past the end of the season. All we spoke about was me having seven games in charge at the beginning and trying to get the best I can out of the squad,” said Riza.

The O’s manager had to make five changes to the team which lost 2-0 at home to Wycombe Wanderers last weekend.

Nicky Hunt, Callum Kennedy, Jens Janse and Teddy Mezague all missed out due to different injury problems.

Meanwhile Tom Parkes was suspended, so Michael Clark, Aron Pollock, debutant Dan Happe, Freddy Moncur and Steven Alzate started.

Riza spoke about how hard the past week had been and the players which dropped out on Friday before the Cambridge match.

He added: “It has been difficult in respect of not being able to plan properly and that is very frustrating for a manager and coach.

“When you don’t know what you have got you can’t prepare for a session because you don’t know what is going to happen and what the outcome is.

“We had players drop out on Friday with little niggles. Nicky Hunt has had a problem with his knee for a while and has played through it, but Friday it was too much, so he decided to stay at home.

“Callum Kennedy said his groin was painful on Friday, so he had to drop out and Teddy Mezague tried to train and he felt sore and all the other injuries are long-term and we have spoke about them.”

Orient revealed on Tuesday the list of players already injured and unavailable including the likes of Alex Cisak, Myles Judd and Gavin Massey.

Riza did explain how midfielder Michael Collins played through the pain for O’s at Cambridge after strugging with a back problem.

Collins and Liam Kelly were the most experienced members of the O’s starting XI alongside 24-year-old Rowan Liburd.

“Michael Collins has had a bad back, but we have managed to get him through the game even though he was touch and go,” said Riza.

“Fair play to him because he has got out there and braved through it, so it has been tough not knowing what team I can put out or what system I can play.

“Even today I got to the point where I wanted to play a certain system, but I didn’t have the players to do it.”

It was confirmed after the match that Rob Gagliardi, previously Orient’s Head of Recruitment, has definitely left the League Two club.

Rumours over the past few weeks had suggested the Italian was no longer part of the set-up at Brisbane Road and that’s now been confirmed.