Independent Leyton Orient Forum

RW has had long enough to find his best 11, but sadly a new team week in week out.
The club are going to have to accept the compensation they’ll have to pay to end his contract.
I don’t think CW is a bad as people say - but RW does seem to be milking it when he knows we have better players.

We should be getting more from this squad
Where’s the desire, the effort, surely that should be a given
I think Wellens time is up

Yes. Sadly I agree.

On paper, this is third most valuable squad in the league and yet he's got us playing like relegation candidates. Again.

Wellens is not delivering
He’s lucky he’s still got a job after the mess of last season

Yeah time for a fresh start. And at least we can play with 11 players every week then.

Richie has lost it since Stockport away

PKM wrote: Sat Oct 24, 2026 5:16 pm Wellens is not delivering
He’s lucky he’s still got a job after the mess of last season

He successfully blamed everyone/everything else to save his skin - Omar, coaching staff, recruitment, Lingy - and now he's run out of excuses.

It’ll be the fans fault

Token wrote: Sat Oct 24, 2026 5:18 pm It’ll be the fans fault

Nah, he threw us under the bus last season too. Some would say he's throwing us under the bus every Saturday at 15:00.

With the squad we have we should be doing far better. Still living off the back of 24/25 season. Time for him to go.

E10quence wrote: Sat Oct 24, 2026 5:23 pm

Token wrote: Sat Oct 24, 2026 5:18 pm It’ll be the fans fault

Nah, he threw us under the bus last season too. Some would say he's throwing us under the bus every Saturday at 15:00.

But next week there will be discontent if we play rubbish or his joke son plays. The shouting and grizzling will start and then it will be our fault.

I'll give him until Christmas. If we aren't in the top 10 then, I think Gandler & Big Nige will make the change. Though who we'll get is anyone's guess.

EliotNes wrote: Sat Oct 24, 2026 6:04 pm I'll give him until Christmas. If we aren't in the top 10 then, I think Gandler & Big Nige will make the change. Though who we'll get is anyone's guess.

Why though? We've been watching the same dirge week-in week-out for 18 months and, despite massive investment in the squad, he's still starting his bloody son? We look unfit. We create almost nothing. He's not improved a single player.

Wait until Christmas and we'll have resigned ourself to another season of treading water in League One.

My view is if we do not start improving our results from the next match then he has to go, I'm afraid.
The worst thing we could do is to wait too long to make a change as it will be another wasted season.
Quite frankly, he was lucky to stay as manager after that awful outburst after last season's final home game.

E10quence wrote: Sat Oct 24, 2026 6:09 pm

EliotNes wrote: Sat Oct 24, 2026 6:04 pm I'll give him until Christmas. If we aren't in the top 10 then, I think Gandler & Big Nige will make the change. Though who we'll get is anyone's guess.

Why though? We've been watching the same dirge week-in week-out for 18 months and, despite massive investment in the squad, he's still starting his bloody son? We look unfit. We create almost nothing. He's not improved a single player.

Wait until Christmas and we'll have resigned ourself to another season of treading water in League One.

Reluctantly agree. During our first two seasons in league 1, even though we had rough starts, you could see what we were trying to do and there were grounds to believe we might improve. There has been nothing so far this season to hold onto. Even in our wins we've not looked impressive.

If we're going to make the change, it needs to be early enough in the season that it isn't a relegation fight salvage job type appointment. Allowing things to drift is a waste of time and money.

I'm prepared to give him the season but I want to see progress. I want to see us put two or three good performances back to back. I get everyone's frustration but I don't look around and see many options. From the way RW has been talking though, I don't think he's under any pressure. He seems to think we don't even need to challenge for the play-offs this season. I can only assume that that is what the board are telling him.

It really was poor today. Burton aren't all that, and yet we still managed to lose. Everyone sat around me was baffled by RW starting Charlie, and he kept Kabia on for far too long when he'd contributed little.

I agree, he's out of ideas and it's time to change. The squad as a whole is better than what he's getting out of them.

It's not time for a change, it was time for a change last May, when Wellens had to rely on Bradford to win, to keep us up.

Board should have sacked him then, and start afresh

He seems unsackable to be honest.

I really hope they sack him this evening, because, we will struggle like last season, & there may not be a Bradford to save us this time

Looking at the next fixtures, Cambridge, Wimbledon. home.
Doncaster, Stockport. away.
and cup game. Lucky if we manage 3/4 points out of that.

Really does feel like the beginning of the end for Richie. Though I can see the board holding out for as long as possible, more so if somehow we can tread water around the lower half of mid-table (unlikely I know).

If the truth be known, the club has no ambition to push for the Championship whilst we are at Brisbane Road. This is fine, because they need the additional finances that a new stadium could bring, so that when we get to the Championship we have a better chance of staying there.

I don't buy that. The value of Gandler's asset goes up if we go up. He can sell his vision of the new ground to investors more easily if we are a hypothetical promotion away from the big time. We have increased our playing budget by 50% since Gandler took over if he's to be believed, that isn't the act of a man happy to tread water.

henry wrote: Sat Oct 24, 2026 6:50 pm Looking at the next fixtures, Cambridge, Wimbledon. home.
Doncaster, Stockport. away.
and cup game. Lucky if we manage 3/4 points out of that.

This is what I think is minimum requirement for Richie to keep his job:

Cambridge United (H) - Must win
Harborough Town (H) - Must win
Barnet (A) - Must win
Doncaster Rovers (A) - Must win
AFC Wimbledon (H) - Must win
Stockport County (A) - Draw or battling loss is passable
Peterborough United (H) - Must win
Huddersfield Town (A) - Draw or battling loss is passable

Or we will win V Cambridge and all this will quieten down for another week..Think he's done enough to be backed for a bit longer, even with his glaring faults. Be careful what you wish for.

Mistadobalina wrote: Sat Oct 24, 2026 7:14 pm I don't buy that. The value of Gandler's asset goes up if we go up. He can sell his vision of the new ground to investors more easily if we are a hypothetical promotion away from the big time. We have increased our playing budget by 50% since Gandler took over if he's to be believed, that isn't the act of a man happy to tread water.

Put it this way, Kent on the Orient Outlook Podcast said that we will yo-yo between league 1 and 2 whilst at Brisbane Road and we've already been damn close to doing just that. Nigel has said numerous times about the kind of budget needed just to be an average Championship side and murmured that it's beyond what we can afford. Nigel even mentioned at the Fans Forum this week that David has said we are not going to get ourselves in masses of debt. This is where i believe David is in it for the long haul and even if it comes to it that the club isn't successful in getting land within Waltham Forest, we'll still look elsewhere.

Mistadobalina wrote: Sat Oct 24, 2026 7:14 pm I don't buy that. The value of Gandler's asset goes up if we go up. He can sell his vision of the new ground to investors more easily if we are a hypothetical promotion away from the big time. We have increased our playing budget by 50% since Gandler took over if he's to be believed, that isn't the act of a man happy to tread water.

Thing is, we have increased the budget by 50% but the football hasn't improved by the same amount

Gandler , not unreasonably, needs to see good progress
Richie not delivering