Martin Ling

[Richinns]

Can I just inform you all of something?

Ling and Rolls only worked together for about a week, and the rest of his tenure was under the superb Paul Barry, who pretty much gave him what he asked for, including a budget on a par with what he's probably got with you guys. He also inherited a very good squad which was more than capable of obtaining a play-off spot.

His comments have angered me greatly, and as someone who peronally knows people in positions of authority at the club, I can confirm that he's told you a load of bull.

Apologies for my rant, but I feel that I had to get this one of my chest.

I thought the bit about his CV being to good for Cambridge United would please you guys!

Don't feel sorry for us yet - things seems positive around the club at the moment and his has brought calm stability after the Buckle storm. Time will tell if this is a good appointment and it is very early days, but things at present seem to be going along nicely.

You may be right but then again it just could be Cambridge and Ling did not fit.

Good luck for the season - it would be good to have you guys back in the league.

[TCP]

Cheers mate :K

[Regiment]

well, thanks for your input TCP, and you're entitled to your opinion. Ling said one thing, and your board told a different story, one which you believe, and that's fine. but will we ever really know ??

naturally the board are not going to turn around after the event and say, "yeah, it was all our fault, Ling was great and we shat on him from a great height", and Ling himself has not laid the entire blame at the board's door. but for you to condemn him as an out and out disaster is unfair. maybe he could've done better for your club, maybe not, but whatever happened, he has clearly learnt from the experience, and maybe now is a better manager as a result.

all we can say here is, he's been with us, what, less than 2 months ? and has done a great job. he's rebuilt a squad that was torn apart by our previous manager, he's got the team spirit back, playing some decent football pre-season, and given us all hope and optimism for the road ahead. time will tell if our optimism is well founded or not, but just because you think think he will fail, doesn't mean he will.

in my last job, i had to endure broken promises, being roundly shafted (not literally) by management, and treated like cr@p, so naturally i wasn't so keen to do my job to the best of my ability, and as soon as a decent opportunity came my way, i was off. i'm very good at what i do, but when you're not happy in a job, whether it's deliberate or not, you don't perform 100%.

anyway, i hope your club can rebuild just as we have had to, and i wish you well for the coming season.

[royalgull]

Ling probably looked at it exactly the way TCP explained, this was a club that finished 2nd the year before and a club that should be towards the top end of the league. His major failuire was to replace Rendell who scored a stack of goals for Daryl Clare and Danny Wright. Wright very nearly ended up here and Clare on the face of it has scored stacks in that league before. You would have thought between those 2 they could get the 20-25 goals that Rendell got. They didn't. But that's football, and he's got the same situation here between the lads that were already here + Howe, Atieno and Morris we have to replace the 20+ goals we got from Zebroski, Tomlin and Robinson, and how we do depends on these new players input.

Management is fine lines, if Wright and Clare had managed their previous form with Cambridge they may well have been playoffs. As it were they didn't, other players departed, I'm certain I recall Luton nabbing a few of your players because i remember looking at one of your bad results and the team sheet was unrecognisable from the team we faced. A lot of younger lads and new signings that obviously didn't work. Stability is the most important thing which you didn't have on and off the pitch coupled with his signings not working for your club at that point in time. That may yet be the same here but he deserves the chance and his experience of Cambridge i really don't think makes any difference or bearing on how he will do here.

[cufcfan]

I love how he claims he had no money, but spent 10k on a striker who has scored JUST 1 GOAL for us.

His 5 players + Carden would have cost the club 2/3 of this years budget under Jez. The guy is clueless he has ample amounts of money, and surely he didn't take the job thinking the conference was stable. Everyone knows half the club in the conference are a ticking timb-bomb all waiting to self destruct.

Hes a duluded man who did well at one club, and now thinks hes the bees knee's. Orient fans seem to think it was all down to his assistant and I agree. He can;t motivate, whens things get tough he turns on the fans and the board...

I had a little respect for him, after all conference is no easy league, until he said his "cv was too big for Cambridge." Cambridge is a big club, we run a huge set-up for a conference team and we invest in our Youth. If he had looked into our youth (as Jez has done) he would have seen Luke Berry, one of the most talented young midfielders I've seen, Jordan Patrick, a busty winger who has easily filled in for Willmott, Adam Marriott, a class but maybe little relaxed attacker, Liam Hughes, who under jez had simply been a revelation... The List is endless!

Our big strength as a club is our youth team, and the players we produce, (Kitson, Ebanks-Blake, Craddock, that chap at west ham whos name i forget) and he totally overlooked that.

Hes a silly man, with a silly attitude.

[chippygull]

Busty winger eh? nearest we got to that is Helen Chamberlain. ;P

[Fonda]

I love how he claims he had no money, but spent 10k on a striker who has scored JUST 1 GOAL for us.

His 5 players + Carden would have cost the club 2/3 of this years budget under Jez. The guy is clueless he has ample amounts of money, and surely he didn't take the job thinking the conference was stable. Everyone knows half the club in the conference are a ticking timb-bomb all waiting to self destruct.

Hes a duluded man who did well at one club, and now thinks hes the bees knee's. Orient fans seem to think it was all down to his assistant and I agree. He can;t motivate, whens things get tough he turns on the fans and the board...

I had a little respect for him, after all conference is no easy league, until he said his "cv was too big for Cambridge." Cambridge is a big club, we run a huge set-up for a conference team and we invest in our Youth. If he had looked into our youth (as Jez has done) he would have seen Luke Berry, one of the most talented young midfielders I've seen, Jordan Patrick, a busty winger who has easily filled in for Willmott, Adam Marriott, a class but maybe little relaxed attacker, Liam Hughes, who under jez had simply been a revelation... The List is endless!

Our big strength as a club is our youth team, and the players we produce, (Kitson, Ebanks-Blake, Craddock, that chap at west ham whos name i forget) and he totally overlooked that.

Hes a silly man, with a silly attitude.

You say he's only done well at one club. Equally, he's only done badly at one club.

Not all Orient fans feel the way you suggest either.

I didn't realise he'd made that quote about Cambridge. Perhaps it's not just results your fanbase hold against him...?

[happytorq]

I love how he claims he had no money, but spent 10k on a striker who has scored JUST 1 GOAL for us.

His 5 players + Carden would have cost the club 2/3 of this years budget under Jez. The guy is clueless he has ample amounts of money, and surely he didn't take the job thinking the conference was stable. Everyone knows half the club in the conference are a ticking timb-bomb all waiting to self destruct.

So maybe he's not suited to a club that has a large budget? Leyton Orient aren't exactly flush, are they? Maybe he'd do far better at a club with limited resources, one at which he's expected to pull good players out of thin air and improve the players already at the club.

If only I knew of a club that sounded like that.....

[TCP]

That's exactly what he was expected to do at CUFC.....

[jwills61]

some torquay fans seem to think we are a bit better about the play-offs which is why were so angry? , that's very misinformed tbh. I don't have anything against torquay your a pleasent side , yes we lost to you but someone had to lose , doesn't bother me that it was you that beat us , just that someone did. We dont dislike you. We just feel that ling let us down significantly with the resources that he had. And if he then lies about having poor resources he's covering up a poor job on his behalf , you've all heard the story so i wont bore you with that. But we are not being bitter about that (playoffs), we just feel that Ling was very poor at our club which he should heav done much better with and didint prove himself to be a good manager. Yet he is on his high horse about his cv. The past is all very well and good , but don't look down your nose at the club because at the end of the day it wasn't the clubs fault or the boards it was your lack of control over the squad and poor tactical decisions that lead to us failing , it was his fault he should take responsiblity for it. If you were us good as manager as your cv suggested you would have done a better job at the club.He wasn't too good for the club , if he was he would have been offered bigger jobs than us. Fact. Jez george will proabably do a better job on smaller resources imo. Rant over , and yes you have probably heard this before , but i'm entitled to my opinion

[cufcfan]

I don't care if he did well at orient or at Torquay tbh.. Good look to you lot and him.

But when he goes to the press and makes snide little comments saying he had a small budget and no resources (which is a blatant lie, we are one of the best setup clubs in the BSBP) it annoys me.

What annoys me more is Torquay fans who know nothing about our club, then saying were all trouble behind the scenes when the club is at its most stable for many many years!

[yellowforever]

What annoys me more is Torquay fans who know nothing about our club, then saying were all trouble behind the scenes when the club is at its most stable for many many years!

We're only re-laying what we've heard from Ling and others.

[Regiment]

I don't care if he did well at orient or at Torquay tbh.. Good look to you lot and him.

But when he goes to the press and makes snide little comments saying he had a small budget and no resources (which is a blatant lie, we are one of the best setup clubs in the BSBP) it annoys me.

What annoys me more is Torquay fans who know nothing about our club, then saying were all trouble behind the scenes when the club is at its most stable for many many years!

i'm not sure he said it was a small budget and no resources. my understanding (and i could be wrong) was that he had those things drastically reduced from what he was told he would have, and other promises either broken, or just didn't materialise.

but don't be surprised that Torquay fans, on a Torquay fans forum, are defending our new manager when disgruntled CUFC fans come on here to slate the bloke. personally i don't know about your club enough to comment, but i do know a bit about our club, and can comment on what Ling has done since he's been here. we don't know what will happen down the line, but as things stand, he's started well and there's an optimistic air around the club. Sorry if that fuels your anger, but if you want to openly criticise and slate Martin Ling, you've come to the wrong place.

[TCP]

Without wishing to be rude, Ling is not the most honest individual or manager you're likely to come across.

[diamondgirl]

Lets have another look at all of this in May next year. Time will tell....one way or another.