Andy Hessenthaler has urged Orient to make a quick decision on the club’s next manager and says if they don’t they will be starting behind the eight ball again.

He fears the club’s out-of-contract players will be snapped up by other teams if the club delays on a decision and worries potential new players could be put off signing until the club’s future is clear.

He said: “The decision has got to be made fairly quickly because then you have got to start on the recruitment drive. It’s massive in the summer to make sure we get the right players in to make sure we go and get promoted next year.”

Hessenthaler has been holding the fort as interim boss since player-manager Kevin Nolan was relieved of his managerial duties last month.

Hessenthaler has been training the players and picking the team, with input from the club’s owner, but says he does not know what is happening after this season.

It has been a turbulent year at Brisbane Road with two managers being relieved of their duties as the O's tried to win promotion back to League One at the first attempt.

Ian Hendon went after a home defeat against Exeter and the man they brought in to replace him, player-boss Nolan, was removed from his role following a 3-0 defeat at Barnet. But, despite the changes, the club still failed to make the play-offs.

The O's completed their home fixtures last weekend with a 1-0 win over Mansfield and they visit Yeovil Town on Saturday for their final game of the season in another dead rubber.

But despite having nothing left to play for this season, Hessenthaler admitted on Saturday that there have been no discussions with the club’s owner over what happens next.

He said: “I don’t know what will happen next. I haven’t got a crystal ball. Only time will tell, we’ve got one game left.”

He says he hopes the club make a quick decision for everybody’s sake.

The interim boss said: “On a professional level we need to know.

"There’s lots of people in different circumstances at the football club; there’s players out of contract, players that are here on loan and players under contract so I think everyone really needs to know what direction we are going in and also we need to start preparing for pre-season.

“That’s the key. Somebody’s got to be behind that. We will carry on and try and put that into plan and then whoever does come in, hopefully we will have done our job and got it organised for them.”

Asked if he feels that the instability at Brisbane Road could make the club less attractive for prospective managers, Hessenthaler said: “Yes, I’m sure it has if you’re an outsider.

"There’s lots of people out there who would like the job but maybe are a little bit put off because of the way things have gone this year and the last couple of years, but I can assure you now that there are a lot of people out there who would jump at the opportunity to manage a club like Leyton Orient, even though they have seen the problems they’ve had over the last couple of years.”

He says it is imperative the club make the next appointment quickly and says if they don’t, they run the risk of losing their out-of-contract players, including the likes of Mathieu Baudry and Lloyd James this year, because of the uncertainty.

He said: “I know for a fact when I came in with Ian [Hendon] there would have been a couple we would have kept. But we were in that position where they’d got themselves sorted out at other clubs and that’s understandable. They couldn’t wait. That’s why it’s really important that we get it sorted out as soon as possible.

“There are some good players here out of contract. We could lose these players. I’m sure there are people at other clubs who are now looking at our situation and looking at our players who are out of contract and maybe talking to them.

“We will wait and see. We can’t really do anything except get on with our jobs until told differently.”