Os return to training. (except Ruel Sotiriou)

[Admin]

What Martin said about the squad being good to go, with maybe one more centre half (who can also play right back) and a striker to come in, possibly.

Is that realistic?

Who has left over the summer? Matt Harold, Marvin, is that it so far?

This. So another full-back doesn't particularly bode well for the likes of Judd, Ogie etc. Squad still looks light on quality to me.

Ling did not say "can also", he said something along the lines of "can possibly". Its that typical utility centre back we've seen over the years - jack of all trades.......

But with Widdowson / Ogie / Turley / Ling / Judd, don't we have enough players to cover LB / RB already?

[OyinbO]

The club have done a good job here of making Sotiriou look bad - he hasn't had the chance to put his side of the story. Now most of our fanbase have got the hump, and are making bitter remarks about how the player is making a mistake and will end up regretting it etc etc. I don't get why people can't just accept that he's trying to better himself, and wish him well - he's out of contract and doesn't owe us anything. Ling clearly doesn't think he's worth whatever he's asked for to stay, so let's just see how it works out. I think it's quite telling that the only time we see Long being pro-active these days is when he's justifying his own decisions, by throwing someone else under the bus. No wonder there's so much distrust around the dressing room.

[BoniO]

The club have done a good job here of making Sotiriou look bad - he hasn't had the chance to put his side of the story. Now most of our fanbase have got the hump, and are making bitter remarks about how the player is making a mistake and will end up regretting it etc etc. I don't get why people can't just accept that he's trying to better himself, and wish him well - he's out of contract and doesn't owe us anything. Ling clearly doesn't think he's worth whatever he's asked for to stay, so let's just see how it works out. I think it's quite telling that the only time we see Long being pro-active these days is when he's justifying his own decisions, by throwing someone else under the bus. No wonder there's so much distrust around the dressing room.

You sound just like RedO.......... so much imagination being expended on one player who just needs to make his mind up if he's staying or not.

[Smendrick Feaselberg]

The club have done a good job here of making Sotiriou look bad - he hasn't had the chance to put his side of the story. Now most of our fanbase have got the hump, and are making bitter remarks about how the player is making a mistake and will end up regretting it etc etc. I don't get why people can't just accept that he's trying to better himself, and wish him well - he's out of contract and doesn't owe us anything. Ling clearly doesn't think he's worth whatever he's asked for to stay, so let's just see how it works out. I think it's quite telling that the only time we see Long being pro-active these days is when he's justifying his own decisions, by throwing someone else under the bus. No wonder there's so much distrust around the dressing room.

Saying most of our fanbase now have the hump is inaccurate. Even so, some of our fanbase had the hump before we released this statement anyway as they were displeased with a supposed lack of effort to re-sign him. As I said before, the club are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

[y o y o y]

Great to see the lads back training. On Ruel, I wish him well whether he stays or goes. I will hold no hard feelings towards him or the board/staff whatever the outcome is.

[DuvB]

No one said Ruel’s a bad en if that’s your take on Lings interview it’s a bit warped. Ling explained nothing they can do but they would still like him to sign for us .

Exactly the same situation with Marv. Ruel will end up with a larger club on more money. Won’t stop people blaming the club and Ling as you are currently proving.

Agreed. The are boarders who ALWAYS blame Ling and/or Embleton just for the sake of it. Poor.

[OyinbO]

The club have done a good job here of making Sotiriou look bad - he hasn't had the chance to put his side of the story. Now most of our fanbase have got the hump, and are making bitter remarks about how the player is making a mistake and will end up regretting it etc etc. I don't get why people can't just accept that he's trying to better himself, and wish him well - he's out of contract and doesn't owe us anything. Ling clearly doesn't think he's worth whatever he's asked for to stay, so let's just see how it works out. I think it's quite telling that the only time we see Long being pro-active these days is when he's justifying his own decisions, by throwing someone else under the bus. No wonder there's so much distrust around the dressing room.

You sound just like RedO.......... so much imagination being expended on one player who just needs to make his mind up if he's staying or not.

He's clearly not staying. Ling is just making sure he doesn't get the blame, and it's working. Whether or not it was the right decision to let him go, only time will tell.

[AckneyAwks]

I know now'adays clubs will be operating with smaller squads and trying to utilise thier abilities for different positions but having four full backs and a possible fifth on the way tells me somethings not quite right. How have we put ourselves in this position?
The current squad lacks two proper good full backs and a quality centre half and then add a goal scoring striker. This looks like another consolidating season and then at the end a clear out of around six or seven players to make way for better quality. Good players could still arrive but until you move people on we will not have the wages to improve the team.
Thats where some major improvement is needed from our management set up in the types of players we need and the direction of the team.
Cisse is a start giving protection to the team, now find proper right/left backs, centre half and striker.

[DuvB]

What Martin said about the squad being good to go, with maybe one more centre half (who can also play right back) and a striker to come in, possibly.

Is that realistic?

Who has left over the summer? Matt Harold, Marvin, is that it so far?

Alabi

Oh yeah, forgot about him.

Thankfully most of us have, nice bloke that he was.

[DuvB]

Cant blame the kid for not signing a contract when James Alabi was deemed more worth of a place on the pitch, or even the bench.

Totally agree, playing Alibi in front of Ruel was a major f*ck up by the club, can't blame him for looking elsewhere for a club that will allow his talent to shine. Can't believe how the club have got themselves into such a mess and we all know who made the decision to play Alibi instead of Ruel, heads must roll.

Lol

[DuvB]

It’s what happens in football Ruel and his agent have been setting this up for months- Club have said they would be happy for him to stay. Club have told it how it is.

It’s completely Ruels decision.it nothing to do with”relationships” it’s his career his choice. It was the same with Porter.

Nice edit.

This is exactly what the interview is about. Covering their arses and making the player out to be the bad 'un - as Porter was, as Adams was , as etc etc.

Aye. And it feels like the only time we see Ling these days is when his sourpuss demeanour can be put to good use.

Lol

[OyinbO]

The club have done a good job here of making Sotiriou look bad - he hasn't had the chance to put his side of the story. Now most of our fanbase have got the hump, and are making bitter remarks about how the player is making a mistake and will end up regretting it etc etc. I don't get why people can't just accept that he's trying to better himself, and wish him well - he's out of contract and doesn't owe us anything. Ling clearly doesn't think he's worth whatever he's asked for to stay, so let's just see how it works out. I think it's quite telling that the only time we see Long being pro-active these days is when he's justifying his own decisions, by throwing someone else under the bus. No wonder there's so much distrust around the dressing room.

Saying most of our fanbase now have the hump is inaccurate. Even so, some of our fanbase had the hump before we released this statement anyway as they were displeased with a supposed lack of effort to re-sign him. As I said before, the club are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

I'm not proposing we commission expensive research to find out what our fans really think about this, but my sense from what I've seen on Twitter and on here is that Ling's statement has really turned opinion against Sotiriou. I suspect he feels a bit insecure after also losing Ekpiteta. And I also reckon that we could go back a month when people on here first clocked that the two of them might leave, and see the consensus at that time (often from some of the same people) was - as you say - that we should be making more of an effort to re-sign them.

I'm disappointed that both have left, but most struck by the shift in opinion from "we have to keep our best young talent" to "he's **** anyway, that's his career done", and how that shift has been even more vivid with Ling sticking the boot in. He just doesn't seem to add to the sum of peace, love, trust, and understanding around the club these days.

[ComeOnYouOs]

As fans, none of us know what the contracts offered to Ruel consisted of. We have no idea what salary was offered, or any other conditions, so it's impossible for us to really know who (if anyone), is to blame for this situation.
One thing that's bothering me is, young players don't seem to want to stay beyond their contracts anymore. They can't wait to get away where they believe their careers will progress better than staying at the o's
Back to Ruel.... It was criminal that for most of last season, Alabi was preferred to him. How must that have made the young man feel? Behind a man who couldn't hit a barn door. No wonder he couldn't wait to get away.
He'll do alright for himself. He's going to the top.
Ling doesn't inspire people. Players who have come here, in the main have come despite Ling, not because of him.
Good luck to Ruel..... He deserves better than the treatment he got with us.

[Admin]

As fans, none of us know what the contracts offered to Ruel consisted of. We have no idea what salary was offered, or any other conditions, so it's impossible for us to really know who (if anyone), is to blame for this situation.
One thing that's bothering me is, young players don't seem to want to stay beyond their contracts anymore. They can't wait to get away where they believe their careers will progress better than staying at the o's
Back to Ruel.... It was criminal that for most of last season, Alabi was preferred to him. How must that have made the young man feel? Behind a man who couldn't hit a barn door. No wonder he couldn't wait to get away.
He'll do alright for himself. He's going to the top.
Ling doesn't inspire people. Players who have come here, in the main have come despite Ling, not because of him.
Good luck to Ruel..... He deserves better than the treatment he got with us.

Whilst I'm not a great fan of the D.O.F / Ling setup in general, are your comments above fact or just your opinion? If it's not opinion, how do you know that he doesn't inspire players and that they come here despite him?

Or are you just wildly losing your sh*t because a player's decided to move elsewhere?

[ComeOnYouOs]

As fans, none of us know what the contracts offered to Ruel consisted of. We have no idea what salary was offered, or any other conditions, so it's impossible for us to really know who (if anyone), is to blame for this situation.
One thing that's bothering me is, young players don't seem to want to stay beyond their contracts anymore. They can't wait to get away where they believe their careers will progress better than staying at the o's
Back to Ruel.... It was criminal that for most of last season, Alabi was preferred to him. How must that have made the young man feel? Behind a man who couldn't hit a barn door. No wonder he couldn't wait to get away.
He'll do alright for himself. He's going to the top.
Ling doesn't inspire people. Players who have come here, in the main have come despite Ling, not because of him.
Good luck to Ruel..... He deserves better than the treatment he got with us.

Whilst I'm not a great fan of the D.O.F / Ling setup in general, are your comments above fact or just your opinion? If it's not opinion, how do you know that he doesn't inspire players and that they come here despite him?

Or are you just wildly losing your sh*t because a player's decided to move elsewhere?

It's my opinion.
Ling doesn't Inspire me, and my opinion is he doesn't inspire anybody else either. Also my opinion.
Glad to clear that up for you

[Long slender neck]

Who do you find inspirational coneonyournose?

[ComeOnYouOs]

Who do you find inspirational coneonyournose?

Well........ You inspire me PW.

[KC & sunshine band]

If Ruel does leave in the perfect world i would love to see Troy Parrott arrive on loan from Spurs. I know he will almost definetly be loaned to a championship club but maybe our inside man "Harry Kane" could pull a few strings...could just imagine thier conversation.
Harry " well Troy you've always wanted my shirt, then get yourself down the Orient, you can have the choice of three"
Troy " Thanks Harry what a top man you are"

I think troy is still sick

perhaps we could get him on higher purchase

[Smendrick Feaselberg]

The club have done a good job here of making Sotiriou look bad - he hasn't had the chance to put his side of the story. Now most of our fanbase have got the hump, and are making bitter remarks about how the player is making a mistake and will end up regretting it etc etc. I don't get why people can't just accept that he's trying to better himself, and wish him well - he's out of contract and doesn't owe us anything. Ling clearly doesn't think he's worth whatever he's asked for to stay, so let's just see how it works out. I think it's quite telling that the only time we see Long being pro-active these days is when he's justifying his own decisions, by throwing someone else under the bus. No wonder there's so much distrust around the dressing room.

You sound just like RedO.......... so much imagination being expended on one player who just needs to make his mind up if he's staying or not.

He's clearly not staying. Ling is just making sure he doesn't get the blame, and it's working. Whether or not it was the right decision to let him go, only time will tell.

I think Ling is looking to explain the situation rather than placing blame. Blaming doesn't get you anywhere, despite the fact that a lot of our fans seem to think there should be "blame" for every decision that they don't like.

[Smendrick Feaselberg]

As fans, none of us know what the contracts offered to Ruel consisted of. We have no idea what salary was offered, or any other conditions, so it's impossible for us to really know who (if anyone), is to blame for this situation.
One thing that's bothering me is, young players don't seem to want to stay beyond their contracts anymore. They can't wait to get away where they believe their careers will progress better than staying at the o's
Back to Ruel.... It was criminal that for most of last season, Alabi was preferred to him. How must that have made the young man feel? Behind a man who couldn't hit a barn door. No wonder he couldn't wait to get away.
He'll do alright for himself. He's going to the top.
Ling doesn't inspire people. Players who have come here, in the main have come despite Ling, not because of him.
Good luck to Ruel..... He deserves better than the treatment he got with us.

Alabi was in the squad from August to some of December, before being shipped out in January.
Sotiriou was in the squad from November through to when the season was curtailed in March and there was an overlapping time when both him and Alabi were in the matchday squad (and with Sotiriou preferred as a sub).

So it's definitely not true that Alabi was preferred to him for most of the last season - you've just made that up. If the season hadn't been curtailed it would have stacked even more towards Sotiriou.

Who were all of these young players that didn't want to stay beyond their contracts anymore? Sotiriou is the only one I can think of that wasn't due to the circumstances caused by Bechetti. At 25 next month Ekpiteta isn't young so he obviously doesn't count either.

[DuvB]

As fans, none of us know what the contracts offered to Ruel consisted of. We have no idea what salary was offered, or any other conditions, so it's impossible for us to really know who (if anyone), is to blame for this situation.
One thing that's bothering me is, young players don't seem to want to stay beyond their contracts anymore. They can't wait to get away where they believe their careers will progress better than staying at the o's
Back to Ruel.... It was criminal that for most of last season, Alabi was preferred to him. How must that have made the young man feel? Behind a man who couldn't hit a barn door. No wonder he couldn't wait to get away.
He'll do alright for himself. He's going to the top.
Ling doesn't inspire people. Players who have come here, in the main have come despite Ling, not because of him.
Good luck to Ruel..... He deserves better than the treatment he got with us.

Alabi was in the squad from August to some of December, before being shipped out in January.
Sotiriou was in the squad from November through to when the season was curtailed in March and there was an overlapping time when both him and Alabi were in the matchday squad (and with Sotiriou preferred as a sub).

So it's definitely not true that Alabi was preferred to him for most of the last season - you've just made that up.

Who were all of these young players that didn't want to stay beyond their contracts anymore? Sotiriou is the only one I can think of that wasn't due to the circumstances caused by Bechetti. At 25 next month Ekpiteta isn't young so he obviously doesn't count either.

This

[BoniO]

The club have done a good job here of making Sotiriou look bad - he hasn't had the chance to put his side of the story. Now most of our fanbase have got the hump, and are making bitter remarks about how the player is making a mistake and will end up regretting it etc etc. I don't get why people can't just accept that he's trying to better himself, and wish him well - he's out of contract and doesn't owe us anything. Ling clearly doesn't think he's worth whatever he's asked for to stay, so let's just see how it works out. I think it's quite telling that the only time we see Long being pro-active these days is when he's justifying his own decisions, by throwing someone else under the bus. No wonder there's so much distrust around the dressing room.

You sound just like RedO.......... so much imagination being expended on one player who just needs to make his mind up if he's staying or not.

He's clearly not staying. Ling is just making sure he doesn't get the blame, and it's working. Whether or not it was the right decision to let him go, only time will tell.

Nobody has "let him go". He's been offered a deal and hasn't accepted it, so far, for reasons known only to himself. That's the long and the short of it.

[BoniO]

The club have done a good job here of making Sotiriou look bad - he hasn't had the chance to put his side of the story. Now most of our fanbase have got the hump, and are making bitter remarks about how the player is making a mistake and will end up regretting it etc etc. I don't get why people can't just accept that he's trying to better himself, and wish him well - he's out of contract and doesn't owe us anything. Ling clearly doesn't think he's worth whatever he's asked for to stay, so let's just see how it works out. I think it's quite telling that the only time we see Long being pro-active these days is when he's justifying his own decisions, by throwing someone else under the bus. No wonder there's so much distrust around the dressing room.

Saying most of our fanbase now have the hump is inaccurate. Even so, some of our fanbase had the hump before we released this statement anyway as they were displeased with a supposed lack of effort to re-sign him. As I said before, the club are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

I'm not proposing we commission expensive research to find out what our fans really think about this, but my sense from what I've seen on Twitter and on here is that Ling's statement has really turned opinion against Sotiriou. I suspect he feels a bit insecure after also losing Ekpiteta. And I also reckon that we could go back a month when people on here first clocked that the two of them might leave, and see the consensus at that time (often from some of the same people) was - as you say - that we should be making more of an effort to re-sign them.

I'm disappointed that both have left, but most struck by the shift in opinion from "we have to keep our best young talent" to "he's **** anyway, that's his career done", and how that shift has been even more vivid with Ling sticking the boot in. He just doesn't seem to add to the sum of peace, love, trust, and understanding around the club these days.

You are RedO and I claim my £5 reward.

[Disoriented]

The club have done a good job here of making Sotiriou look bad - he hasn't had the chance to put his side of the story. Now most of our fanbase have got the hump, and are making bitter remarks about how the player is making a mistake and will end up regretting it etc etc. I don't get why people can't just accept that he's trying to better himself, and wish him well - he's out of contract and doesn't owe us anything. Ling clearly doesn't think he's worth whatever he's asked for to stay, so let's just see how it works out. I think it's quite telling that the only time we see Long being pro-active these days is when he's justifying his own decisions, by throwing someone else under the bus. No wonder there's so much distrust around the dressing room.

You sound just like RedO.......... so much imagination being expended on one player who just needs to make his mind up if he's staying or not.

But he’s right though, isn’t he.

[The Big Shot]

People have to remember he has just turned 19 a few weeks before he scored against Colchester, he was only 18 when Dover had him on loan!

He is still in the category of being a youngster/youth team player, if his agent has said to him at any point in the final year of his contract, that he will be able to get him a move to a bigger club for more money, he is going to take it most likely. We all know he'd be better staying here as he'd get more game time than he would at a Championship club, but ultimately money talks.

I've always said that I get the argument he should've played ahead of Alabi earlier, but even if he did play for us earlier and did well for us, it seems there was no guarentee he'd have stayed. If your agent thinks he can get you to go to a bigger club for more money, then the player will always go to the bigger club for more money.

I'm quite happy someone from the club provided an update to be honest, because now everyone knows where they stand.

There would've been people complaining on here and social media about "Why is there still no update on Ruel Sotirou's contract situation?" had no update been provided.

If he can get himself a bigger club in a higher league, good luck to him.

Now watch him sign for Bolton..........................