After relegation to the National League was confirmed on Saturday, attention now needs to turn to next season for Brisbane Road club
Omer Riza admits everybody associated with Leyton Orient needs clarity on the long-term future of the club.
The O’s relegation from League Two was confirmed on Saturday following a 3-0 loss at Crewe Alexandra.
But there are major concerns about next season with no plans in place for life in the National League.
Orient have several players out of contract in the summer and whoever is manager of the club will have a major rebuilding job on their hands.
A statement released by O’s in January revealed Francesco Becchetti was willing to listen to offers, but no official news has materialised since.
“I think people just want clarity on what the situation is and we are all feeling the same way,” said Riza.
“But by the same token, sometimes you need to take your mind away from things to focus and do your job properly.
“I think all the players have done that and as staff we have tried to do that and we will keep trying to do that until we know what is going on.”
The Orient squad have done their best to stay focused and showed that by achieving two fine results over Easter.
But they came unstuck at Gresty Road on Saturday and struggled to cope with Crewe throughout the contest.
Riza admitted the Railwaymen, who have a reputation of developing young players, are at a stage O’s are trying to reach.
He added: “We came to Crewe off the back of those two games (Luton Town and Hartlepool United), but the situation hadn’t changed.
“There was no reason for the players to be any different other than the fact it was another day where they hadn’t been paid.
“I do think these things add up, but Crewe were better than us and they knew their jobs and knew what they were doing as individuals.
“As a team they knew what they were doing and that comes with time and you can see they have had that and we haven’t.”
Riza continued: “We have thrust boys in the deep end and we are still working on things and we haven’t been able to work from a week-to-week basis.
“I have had to feed the boys stuff quickly and they have been brilliant to be fair, and I can’t take anything away from them, but Crewe are where we want to be further down the line.”
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