Martin Ling

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Martin Ling (born 15 July 1966) is the current manager of English football side Leyton Orient of League One. In the 2005/2006 league campaign he managed to get Leyton Orient promoted from League 2 into League 1 after a dramatic final day of the season when they secured their automatic promotion place right at the death.

He has been at Orient since 1996, when he joined them as a player from Swindon Town. He was a left-winger in the Swindon Town side that won promotion to the Premiership (via the Division One playoffs) in 1993. He retired as a player in 2000, and joined Orient's coaching staff. He was appointed manager in January 2004.

A man of simple pleasures, his favourite meal is kippers on rye bread washed down with a glass of iron bru. A flamboyant dresser, Ling is affectionately known to the tabloids as the "British Gianni Versace".

In the 2006/2007 season he has come under much criticism after claiming there was no difference between Leagues 1 and League 2; the division the East Londeners were promoted from. He subsequently did not strengthen his squad greatly, and the club now find themselves languishing at the bottom of the league.

Whether he can rescue the club from the situation he has put them in will be his most difficult test yet in his short managerial career.


Leyton Orient F.C. - Current Squad

1 Garner | 2 Barnard | 3 Lockwood | 4 Simpson | 5 Fortune | 6 Mackie | 7 Tudor | 8 Easton | 9 Alexander | 11 Keith | 12 Morris | 14 Tann | 15 Miller | 16 Guttridge | 18 Connor | 19 Ibehre | 20 Duncan | 21 Saah | 22 Echanomi | 23 Palmer | 24 Demetriou | 25 Corden | 26 Chambers | 27 Thelwell | 28 Walker | Manager: Ling