Despite emerging as the favourite candidate to replace Neill Collins at Barnsley, Leyton Orient boss Richie Wellens has signed a new three-year deal in E10, the club have officially confirmed.
Following a week of anxious tweeting and nervous rumour-making from fans after Wellens was absent from the touchline at Shrewsbury Town and wasn’t seen at the end-of-season dinner awards, their worries can finally be put to rest.
The former Swindon Town boss has emerged as an iconic figure in East London in recent years, guiding the O’s to becoming League Two champions 12 months ago and building on that historic achievement with an 11th-placed finish in League One a year later.
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His 46% win ratio as Orient manager surpasses any record at his previous clubs, and when you put into perspective, the fact that a whole season of his tenure as head coach has been following a step to a higher division – it really highlights how far he has come since his last role at Doncaster, which only saw him hold merely a 27% win ratio.
The style of football that Leyton Orient play under Wellens is one that supporters had been calling out for ever since their return to the EFL in 2019, replacing negative, long-ball football with a high-intensity, high-pressing game as well as looking to dominate the ball whenever possible.
And it’s no surprise that the 44-year-old manager has committed his future to the club, with an extremely positive atmosphere around the club. You get the feeling that the O’s are in a long-term exciting project, with a young squad who seem to understand each other’s game more and more every week.
https://twitter.com/leytonorientfc/status/1785644227294122345
Speaking in a club’s statement confirming the news of his contract extension, Wellens admitted that he’s really excited for the future.
“I’m really excited about what the next three years can bring us. We have got a group of players that are young and can improve and the fact that we only finished 11 points off the play-offs with the number of injuries that we had this season excites me for the future.”
Leyton Orient will now look to push on following their positive League One campaign and will hope that more marquee signings like Jordan Graham, Ethan Galbraith and Dan Agyei will be tempted to join the project and kick on to try and potentially reach the top six in the 2024/25 season.
Writer’s View
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Leyton Orient fans were worried about the prospect of losing Wellens at the end of the season after they missed out on the play-offs, but there is no doubt that they will be absolutely delighted to have him in E10 for another three years. A much loved and iconic figure at the club, one that if they lost, could have a real negative impact on the direction that the team seems to be going in currently.
With a young squad with an abundance of quality already at his disposal, Wellens will look to use the three months before the new season to build on his trusted group of players, to take them to the next level and compete well at third-tier level – and maybe even mount a play-off bid.
