When Martin Ling received a call from Leyton Orient asking him to come back as director of football in 2017, it changed his life. “There’s no doubt in my mind,” he says. “To be where we are is a minor miracle. There’s a Hollywood story everyone talks about with Wrexham. But we’re probably more of a Wood Green story – it’s just we haven’t got the famous actors behind us.”
Ling, a former midfielder who made more than 150 appearances for the O’s and spent six years as manager at Brisbane Road, thought his career was over after experiencing mental breakdowns while in charge of Torquay and then, in 2015, at Swindon. In 2017, new owners stepped in at Orient after the turbulent era under Francesco Becchetti during which they dropped out of the Football League for the first time, after 112 years.
