Why I can't support Fabio Liverani as manager of Leyton Orient

The revolving door of Leyton Orient has been spun and unfortunately for Fabio Liverani, it has landed at his door. Welcome to the club.

So why can't i support this fella? In a nutshell, it's Francesco Becchetti's fault. For being so needlessly selfish. Allow me to explain:

I don't believe that Liverani is the right person to lead us out of a League One relegation scrap, i don't feel that he has the knowledge of English League One football and I don't believe that he has the contacts that an experienced manager could bring.

I don't feel that managing Genoa for six games, winning one, drawing one and losing four, is the type of experience needed to manage Leyton Orient and I can't believe that we've replaced a manager who lacked experience with a manager of a similar ilk.

I feel that his lack of spoken English is going to be telling, i don't think that by bringing over his 'team' is the right move and i don't think that offering a two-year deal to him is wise.

Having to report to the person he just replaced as manager seems pretty odd too.

I can't see that he is going to be able to motivate the players without being able to communicate with them, nor being able to set his game-plans and tactics in action.

I also can't see how the remaining members of staff can be kept on after having their toes trod on.

Off the pitch he's not going to provide much in the way of community plans or inspire the youth players coming through.

But all that can be forgiven. Everyone has to start somewhere remember. And we've probably had worse over the years.

What really pisses me off about this appointment (and the reason why I don't endorse or will be supporting this appointment), is that it isn't a football related one. It's about a poxy TV show on a poxy TV Channel broadcast in Italy or Albania or somewhere.

If this was purely a football decision, then you'd go for an experienced manager with a wealth of knowledge of the lower-leagues, the country, the players and tactics in general.

Here's a list of out of work managers who we could've had:

• Terry Butcher
• Owen Coyle
• Dougie Freedman
• Tony Mowbray

Not to mention my personal favourite (Brian McDermott, who I'd have moved heaven and earth to get here).

And that's just the out of work managers.. not to mention the likes of John Still, Paul Tisdale, Micky Mellon and soon to be out of work Ian Holloway. Not to mention countless others working their way up from non-league or coaching Premiership youth teams.

No. We're lumbered with an Italian speaking coach with no experience of the league we're currently playing in. But he's gonna look great on the TV show, with his Italian assistants, coaches, players all assessing a game show.

To sum it all up, this appointment hasn't been made with the best interests of Leyton Orient at heart.

This is a selfish move by an owner who seems intent on trying to win an audience in a TV battle.

And that is why I can't support a move like this.

The Italian Job - Russell Slade's Pre-Season Signings - Part One

There's been a lot of criticism of Russell Slade's Pre-Season signings. Let's delve into what happened, why it happened and how it happened.

The takeover from Hearn to Becchetti is complete. If rumour is to be believed, Russell was asked to name five players for each position in the squad, funds not a problem, anyone you like. Mauro Milanese (of whom we'll discuss later) and Becchetti would do the rest.

Naturally Russell went shopping in the Championship as any sane fella would do.

Adam Legzdins - Signed a two-year contract on the 13.06.2014.
According to both Slade and Legzdins we'd been in for him the previous season when he was at Derby and we needed a keeper. Derby were reluctant to let him go, fortunately for us we got Jakupovic.

Slade obviously liked the sound of Legzdins and at 6' 4'' he certainly sounded like the dominant type of keeper that Jones wasn't.

Bradley Pritchard - Signed a two-year contract on the 10.07.2014.
On the face of it, nobody really knew what this signing was about. We'd lost Moses to Brentford, but Pritchard certainly didn't spring to mind as a direct replacement on the wing. Personally i put this signing down to adding a bit of depth in midfield, providing cover and competition for Vincelot and James.

Regardless of what Slade had in mind, we'd been picking from the Championship again so no complaints on that front, plus the few Charlton fans that piped up said that we had a livewire-workaholic type of player. That definitely fits the Slade mould.

Gary Woods - Signed a two-year contract on the 17.07.2014.
Wow.. We can afford two Championship quality keepers of our own! No loans for a change! Similar to Legzdins in that we as fans had no real idea of what we were getting.

We knew that he played a load of games for Doncaster when they were promoted from the Division Three though. Gotta be a good keeper.

Shane Lowry - Signed a two-year contract on the 21.07.2014.
A player that we've heard of! I think Russell brought Lowry to Brisbane Road to shore up the left-back position and add some more quality depth to one of the best defences in the league.

25 years old, over 100 games at Championship level, this was a top-notch signing.


The Lowry signing had me (and no doubt others) starting to realise that Slade's shopping list wasn't a fabrication at all. We had a new owner, we meant business, and the four signings so far had definitely improved on what we had the previous season.