HEARN: No need for big panic over Ling

9:44am Thursday 20th November 2008

ORIENT chairman Barry Hearn believes he has been proved right in his decision not to press the panic button on manager Martin Ling.

The O’s boss was coming under increasing pressure after his side went ten games without a win, but three victories on the bounce and the east Londoners look in much better shape.

Hearn said: “Of course like the fans I was concerned with our results, but I wasn't going to start judging Lingy on a three month spell given what he has achieved for this football club.

“Three wins doesn’t mean we are out of trouble yet, but I’ve always thought a manager who has improved us every year deserves to be given the chance to remain in the job. People should know me and the way I run a business, that I was never going to make a knee jerk reaction because Martin has been with us a long time now.

“His record at a club of our size speaks for itself and while if something is going wrong you may decide you have the wrong person in charge, I’ve never felt like that with Martin.

“He is an Orient man through and through, who has done fantastically well with the resources he has had to work with.

“In this division we are probably in the lower mid-table of payers. And while we are spending £1.7million on players wages, you have people like Leicester and Leeds who have the supporter base to fund seven and eight million pound budgets.

“The fans need to realise this, because while I would like to give the manager more money. But what they have to realise that while some clubs will go out and try and buy their way out of trouble by signing players, that is the reason half the teams in this country are in dire financial trouble.

“As I’ve always said I'm prepared to write off £800,000 to a million a year to keep us solvent, but that is my limit.

“When I’ve spoken to the fans and ask would you like to own a Ferrari, a lot say yes, yet when I ask them why they haven’t got one they say it is because they can’t afford one.

“And running this football club is the same because while I would love to see Ronaldo in an Orient shirt, we don’t have the money to make that happen.

“But what we do have is a strong financial base to stay afloat and a manager who I believe can keep improving us year-on-year, even if it is only a small step at a time.

“So it is nice that we have put this little run together, because it gets people thinking sensibly again.

“It would be fantastic to think that having started last season so well before falling away that we can do the opposite this time.”