Carl Fletcher named new Leyton Orient head coach
Leyton Orient have appointed former Wales midfielder Carl Fletcher as head coach.
The 39-year-old has agreed a two-year contract at Brisbane Road and arrives from Bournemouth, where his most recent position was loan manager.
Fletcher takes over from caretaker boss Ross Embleton, who has filled the vacancy since the death of Justin Edinburgh in June.
Orient director of football Martin Ling told the club website: “The board went through the interview process with Carl and he kept coming out on top.
“He has leadership skills, which he obviously had as a captain of many teams he was at including his country. Everything that we were looking for, he ticked every box.
“Everyone we spoke to said everything we wanted to hear. We spoke to Stephen Purches at Bournemouth, we had people speak to Eddie Howe and Charlie Daniels.
“We spoke to a couple players who played under him at Plymouth as well as the people at board level at Bournemouth and they all said the same thing – they believe he’s going to make a top-class football manager.”
Fletcher represented Bournemouth, West Ham, Watford, Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest, Plymouth and Barnet as a player.
He returned to the Pilgrims as manager in 2011, keeping them in League Two despite a backdrop of severe financial issues, but was sacked in January 2013 following a poor run of form.
Embleton will return to his position of assistant coach.
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