Before his appointment as Cambridge United manager at the start of this season, Martin Ling 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 up to League One.
After reading the first part of our interview [here], you'll know that Martin enjoyed an eighteen-year playing career that began at Exeter City in 1982, ended with eight appearances for Brighton in 2000, and took in lengthy spells with Southend, Swindon and Leyton Orient, including a season in the Premiership with Swindon.
Finishing the 1999-2000 season at Brighton, he decided to hang up his playing boots at the age of 34 and take up Tommy Taylor's offer of a job as youth coach with his former club Leyton Orient.
Taylor knew Ling had embarked upon the lengthy process of gaining his coaching qualifications four years earlier and was already coaching Orient's under-15 side.
As Martin said in our first installment, "I was interested in 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.
"There's no better way to learn coaching than getting among the young kids and teaching them."
His youth role was two-fold; taking the under-19s (in those days most clubs operated U17 and U19 squads) and also coaching the U15s on Monday and Wednesday nights and taking their games on Sundays.
"It was a big workload but also a sharp learning curve," he says of that 14-month period, which resulted in silverware for the O's as he led the under-19s to the Football League Youth Alliance league and cup double in 2001.
The next step up came when Taylor resigned in October 2001 after five years in charge and first team coach Paul Brush took over, making Ling his assistant manager. But Brush's reign lasted just under two years before he was dismissed and Martin was appointed as caretaker manager.
Taking over a side second from bottom of the league on 27th September 2003, he knew it was a tall order: "Results have to be good when you're a caretaker manager. My first game in charge was Carlisle away, they were bottom and we were second bottom, and if we'd have lost that night we would have gone bottom of the Football League.
"But we won 1-0 and had a run of good results, and in the December they gave me an 18-month contract. Every year we finished higher than we had the previous year and I think by last season I'd taken them as high as I could at that time."
Martin led Orient to automatic promotion in 2006 and successfully kept them up in League One the following season, but he feels that their start to the 2007-08 season created unrealistic expectations for an unfashionable club struggling to attract larger crowds despite their elevation.
"If I'm honest I think I probably shot myself in the foot in my second to last season," he says with characteristic frankness. "We were top of the league for about four months and ended up fourteenth, and that was seen to be a failure rather than a success, even though the previous season we had finished fifth from bottom.
"If we'd just finished fourteenth it would have been seen as a successful season and progression, but because we'd been top of the league for a while it was seen more as a let-down and that created pressure for the following season."
With limited funds, last season was tough and when the O's dropped into the relegation zone, chairman Barry Hearn made what he described as "the hardest decision I have had to make in 14 years as Orient chairman" and Ling and his assistant Dean Smith left the club by mutual consent in January.
"I was at Leyton Orient for twelve and a half years as a player, youth coach, assistant manager and manager and I got them success while I was there," says Martin. "He was a loyal chairman but I gave him progress each year, and if a manager gives you that then it's easy for a chairman to be loyal.
"I think if I was to walk into Leyton Orient now I would be seen as successful," he reflects. "Gordon Strachan said the other week that you should only be judged as a manager once you've finished at a club, and I think that's a good statement."
After leaving Orient, Martin did some scouting for Hibernian and set up a network of scouts for the Scottish Premier League side, and was also linked with the vacant managerial post at Port Vale before joining United in July.
After two successive play-off final appearances, he understands all too well the expectations among U's supporters, especially those who don't realise how much the playing budget has been slashed this year in comparison with the last two seasons.
"Where the difficulty lies here is that the club has finished second and missed out in the play-offs two years running, so people say 'hold on a minute, how come Martin has come in and now we're mid-table?'," he comments.
"But the playing budget this season is a lot different to the budget in the last two seasons, and what the club needs now is some stability. You get stability by earning it, not just by saying the word.
"Supporters want us to get back in the Football League, and so do I, but it may take a little bit of time," he cautions. "That's not to say it won't happen this year, but we have to cut our cloth according to the finances and they are very different from the last two years.
"My hands are tied in that respect; people can see that the only person I've brought in is Brian (Saah) and the only person who's gone out is Challinor on loan, so there's not an abundance of money to throw about."
At the halfway stage of the season now, with United in mid-table and key games coming up against three of the top four clubs, Martin is at pains to say that the play-offs are not out of reach.
"If we can stay free of injuries and suspensions and if we can keep putting our best team out there, then we have a chance of finishing in the top five. It can happen if we can put a run of results together; teams like Kettering have shown that with their good form," says the 43-year-old.
"But the main thing is to work within the budget to make sure that we don't 'chase the dream' and shoot the club in the foot financially."
Unsurprisingly for someone who was a skilful midfielder who played alongside and under Glenn Hoddle, Martin is a great believer in playing attractive football and holds the former Chelsea, Tottenham and England manager in high regard.
"I learned a lot of good things about man-management from him. He was excellent at Swindon and made the right decisions at the right times. He criticised players when they needed it but also praised them when they needed picking up.
"It was his first managerial role and we were unbelievably encouraged to pass the ball, and he saw the long ball game as a slight against his methods. Obviously he regarded John Beck's methods that way when we played against Cambridge, but I was at a club function the other night and John Taylor and Dion Dublin were speaking, and they said they were brilliant times.
"They said they were told what to do and they did it, and you can't knock the success of those methods. Everyone has their own beliefs about football and mine are that we'll be an effective passing team.
"'Passing with a purpose' is what I call it, so I'm probably somewhere between the two beliefs. I like my teams to pass the ball and when I was at Orient people said you can't pass your way out of League Two, but I think we passed our way out of League Two and passed our way to the top of League One for a period.
"But sometimes you have to play the conditions, so as a manager you adjust between the times when it's right to pass and the times when it's right to go a bit longer. You have to earn the right to play and obviously I was a passing player, but you do what's effective for your team, and sometimes the way you play is dependent on the players you have at your club."
Martin names David Webb, who he played for at Southend, as another influence on his managerial career, but he adds, "You take good and bad from everyone that you've worked for and try to enhance the good and avoid doing the bad things yourself."
Married to Caroline for 20 years and based in Broxbourne for 13 years, Martin has a daughter Charlotte (14) and son Samuel (12), who plays for Leyton Orient's Centre of Excellence.
"People might think it strange that I've left there and he still plays there, but he's been there since he was ten and it's probably easier for him now than it was when I was manager there," he says.
"People might have said that he was only there because of me but now they'll see he's there on his own two feet because he's a good little footballer. But for me, the main thing is that he's enjoying playing."
When not working, watching games or spending time with his family, Martin plays the odd round of golf but admits to being a "summer golfer".
"My golf clubs come out on the first of March and go back in the cupboard on the first of November - I can't see any point in being soaking wet and freezing cold on a golf course!"
There are likely to be some cold and wet afternoons and evenings ahead as United embark in the FA Trophy and return to league action on Friday, and Martin is relishing the challenge of bringing both stability and success to Cambridge United.
"I know 'stability' isn't necessarily a word that supporters want to hear, but in the current climate a lot of clubs are suffering from chasing the dream. I want to chase the dream but we have to do it in a calculated and financially measured way," he concludes.
"This club has been within 90 minutes of the Football League in the last two years and I'm definitely not saying it can't happen this year, but we have to build and do the best we can this year within a budget that is sustainable."
--- Any Questions? ---
Who has had the most positive influence on your career so far?
My parents, and Glenn Hoddle.
Who's the best Captain you have ever played with?
Colin Calderwood at Swindon.
The best player you've played with/against?
With would be Glenn Hoddle, and against would be Paul Gascoigne.
What player/team did you admire growing up and why?
Trevor Brooking is my favourite player of all time and West Ham is my team.
Outside of football, are there any other sports at which you were good as a youngster and might have gone on to play professionally?
I played cricket to a high standard as a wicket keeper or opening batsman.
Your top three sportsmen/women of all time?
Muhammad Ali, Björn Borg and Trevor Brooking.
What's your favourite meal and drink?
Italian with a glass of white wine.
What was the last album you bought?
You're having a laugh! I have to listen to the rubbish the players put in the dressing room and the rubbish my children listen to at home!
What was the last film you went to see?
The last Harry Potter film with the family.
What car do you drive?
A Volkswagen club car.
Where is the furthest you have travelled to on holiday?
We were taken to Las Vegas by Barry Hearn when Orient won promotion.
Where is the best place on Earth, and why?
My living room after a win on a Saturday night, with my family around me.
What is the one piece of advice you would give a young player?
Don't leave anything to chance; practice makes permanent.
What's the very best thing about football?
The feeling in the dressing room after a winning performance.
Martin was talking to Andrea Thrussell
andrea@cambridgeunited.net
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