As we approach the halfway stage of the season, we sit down with manager Martin Ling to learn more about the man who until January was the sixth longest serving football manager in the country, and is entrusted with this club's fortunes for at least the next three years.
Martin was in charge of Leyton Orient for five and a half years, making him the sixth longest-serving boss in English football as he led the O's from the brink of dropping out of the Football League to League One following promotion in 2006.
Before that, as a player he won promotion four times with two clubs before moving into coaching and management, so let's go right back to the beginning...
Born in East London and growing up as a massive West Ham fan, his playing career began as an apprentice with Exeter City rather than one of his local clubs. So why did an East End lad start out at Exeter?
"I was on tour with my Sunday side when I was about 14 and the best player on the tour won a week's trial at Exeter City. I won the accolade so I was invited down there to have a look at the place," he explains.
"There were a few London clubs taking interest in me but nothing concrete so I talked to my Dad about it, we went to have a look, and I ended up moving down there two weeks before my 16th birthday in July 1982."
Looking back, Martin admits it was a wrench to move so far away from home at that age and he struggled to adapt at first, but it turned out to be a great move.
"I thought I'd made the biggest mistake of my life. I felt homesick and wanted to be back at home, but I got into the first team very quickly as a 16-year-old and I settled down and stayed there for four years so it worked out really well for me.
"I was very small as a schoolboy and it wasn't so much about size and power and pace in those days; there was a role for smaller, skilful players. I was about eight stone wet when I went down there - I'm a little bit bigger nowadays! - and me and Exeter were a good fit for each other.
"I got in the first team at 16 and by the time I left at 20 I'd played over 120 League games."
The move came about because Swindon Town paid £25,000 for him in the summer of 1986, but his first spell there was a short-lived one.
"With the benefit of hindsight I probably left Exeter a year too soon," he reflects. "I turned down a new contract and moved to Swindon through a tribunal, but that never, ever worked out and I was only there for 93 days.
"I couldn't settle into the style of play that Lou Macari was looking for at that stage, so even though I'd signed a two-year contract we agreed to go our separate ways, and they sold me on pretty quickly to Southend for the same money they'd paid for me at the tribunal."
This move led to an enjoyable five seasons at Southend United, where he made over 130 league appearances for a side that won promotion from the old Division Four in 1987 and 1990, and Division Three in 1991.
"It was a topsy-turvy time," he smiles. "We went up the first year, then in the second year we stayed up on the last day of the season, in the third year we went down, and in the fourth year and the fifth year we went up. I think every year the last game of the season was a key game and we had three promotions while I was there and one relegation."
On a week-to-week deal throughout that fifth season at Southend, the situation never settled and after a brief loan at Mansfield he returned to Swindon Town in March on loan to the end of the season.
"In my last year there I'd had a bit of a bust-up over finances with the chairman, Vic Jobson, and near the end of that season I went back to Swindon Town on loan under Ossie Ardiles," says Martin.
But once again it looked as though his time at the Wiltshire club would be troubled, because just four days after signing for Ardiles, the former Spurs and Argentina star left to take over at Newcastle United!
"It was a bit of a shock," he admits. "I thought I'd signed for a manager that fancied me as a player and then he was gone, but luckily Glenn Hoddle came in with John Gorman and at the end of that season they bought me for £15,000, and that was the start of a brilliant period for me."
Again it could be described as a "topsy-turvy" five year spell as Martin enjoyed two promotions during the high point of Swindon Town's history, but also two relegations as the club struggled at the top level of English football.
Missing out on the play-offs in his first season there, in 1992-93 Martin became a first team regular and Swindon were promoted to the Premier League via the Division One playoffs at Wembley, where they won 4-3 against Leicester City.
Swindon player-manager Glenn Hoddle
with the Play-off Trophy in 1993
"We'd reached the 'holy grail' for the first time in the club's history but that summer Glenn Hoddle took the Chelsea job and John Gorman was made the manager," he recalls.
What Martin describes as a "hectic" time at Swindon saw the club relegated with just five wins in their one season in the Premiership, while conceding a record 100 goals.
John Gorman was sacked in November 1994 after 18 months in charge, and although successor Steve McMahon was unable to avoid relegation from Division One they did reach the semi-finals of the League Cup and won the Division Two title the following season.
"The first two seasons had been brilliant under Glenn, but the next two seasons were a struggle. Although it was brilliant to play in the Premiership, it was frustrating too because we weren't set up to be a Premiership club," says the 43-year-old.
"We ended up bottom of the league, and while it was great to play at Highbury and Old Trafford and places like that, it still wasn't nice to be beaten every week; I think we were about fifteen games into the season before we even got a win.
Martin playing for Swindon Town
"We were favourites to go down and I don't think we ever really put up a fight," he adds regretfully. "So even though it was brilliant to be the first really small club to go into the Premiership, I think a lot of clubs have learned a lesson from Swindon's experience.
"For example, I signed a three-year contract when we went into the Premiership but there were no clauses in case of relegation and we went down two years running, so I think clubs have learned a lesson about players' contracts. Sometimes going into the top flight can hurt clubs and it definitely hurt Swindon Town at that time.
"Some clubs learn to sustain it but you look at clubs like Charlton and Southampton and even Leeds to some degree, and you can see that the financial side of competing up there can damage clubs."
Relegation from the Premiership after one season was followed by a second successive relegation as the club struggled to stabilise, and although they came straight back up as Division Two champions in 1996 that marked the end of Martin's time at Swindon.
The transfer was because of the Premiership-level contracts signed by Martin and other players: "I was still earning Premiership money and even though we'd gone back up to Division One as champions it was time for me to move on, and that's why the move to Orient came about," he confirms.
It would be another extended stay for a man who clearly doesn't 'job hop', comprising four years as an Orient player and then of course nine and a half years as coach and manager.
"My first season there was a struggle," he says, "but in my second season there I got into the third division team of the year, which was nice for me personally, and in the third season we got to the play-off final and lost, which was really frustrating.
"Then in the fourth season it started to go wrong a little bit. We were struggling and I wasn't playing a lot, and that's when you start to look at your career."
Having played over 160 league games for the club, he joined Brighton & Hove Albion on a free transfer in March 2000 and played the final eight games of his 18-year career there.
The decision to hang up his boots was perhaps made easier by the offer made to him when he left Orient, when Tommy Taylor told him that if he wanted to go into coaching when he stopped playing there would be a job there with the youth team.
Taylor was of course previously in charge at the Abbey and his somewhat acrimonious departure in November 1996, followed by the decision by some of United's players to follow him to East London, ensured that meetings between the U's and the O's subsequently attained 'derby' level in the eyes of the supporters.
"I know Tommy had a young side at Cambridge and they were doing well, but he chose to go to Orient and I remember the rivalry between the clubs after that," Martin agrees. "It was there for everyone to see and there were some good games both here and there."
Finishing the 1999-2000 season at Brighton, he had a clear choice between looking for another club at the age of 34 or taking up Taylor's offer and returning to Orient three months after leaving as a player.
"I was interested in coaching and taking that next step, and although I may have been able to play for another one or two seasons, coaching was something I always wanted to do," he reveals.
"The timing was right, I'd played a lot of games and I was getting little niggles in my back, travelling to Brighton wasn't really ideal, and it became more apparent that summer that coaching was what I really wanted to do."
A coaching career was always on the cards for Martin, who had started his coaching badges at 30 and completed his UEFA Pro licence ten years later after a continuous learning path in coach education.
And it is something he would encourage any player to think about, as he explains:
"Paul Carden and Andy Parkinson have both just passed their Level 2, which is the old C/B badge, and I wish I'd started out earlier but - probably like all players - you don't think about your playing career ending so you don't look beyond that.
"I wish now I'd started out when I was about 25/26. You'd finish your Pro licence by 35/36, and that's the advice I'd give to any up and coming coach. If you have any ambitions of being a manager or coach in football, the quicker you start on the ladder the better."
With Martin deciding to move from playing to coaching at the age of 34, we'll pick up with his managerial career and some of his major influences in 'part 2'.
Andrea Thrussell
andrea@cambridgeunited.net
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