Assistant coach Ross Embleton says fan favourite David Mooney was allowed to leave Leyton Orient to increase his chances of playing regular football during the latter stages of his career.

The striker’s second spell with the O’s was ended last week when the National League side terminated his contract by mutual consent.

Mooney’s departure had been on the cards for the last few months, with the striker not included in any of Orient’s match-day squads this campaign following the arrival of James Alabi from Tranmere Rovers and Matt Harrold’s return from injury.

Head coach Justin Edinburgh had previously hinted that Mooney was unlikely to be in his plans this campaign and the 33-year-old leaves Brisbane Road having scored 57 goals in 212 appearances across his two spells with the club.

Mooney will always be fondly remembered by O’s fans, especially for his role in helping Orient reach the League One Play Off final, having scored 21 goals in all competitions during the 2013/14 campaign.

He struck up a prolific partnership with fellow striker Kevin Lisbie that season too, with the duo scoring 39 goals between them.

Having notched nine times the following campaign, Mooney would then leave East London for Southend United, but returned to Brisbane Road in June 2017 following his release from the Shrimpers, becoming the first player to join the O’s after Nigel Travis’ takeover.

He registered six goals in 42 appearances in all competitions last season, helping Orient achieve a 13th place finish in the National League and given his status at the club, Embleton says it was a “tough decision” to allow the fan favourite to move on.

Embleton said: “I think with Moons, everyone knows his status at the club and with many of the fans. It was always going to be a tough decision for him and the gaffer and everyone at the club for him to move on.

“With Moons, last season wasn’t a year where he blew everybody away. I think he would be the first person to admit that. He was probably hoping to try and hit the ground running and come back this year and make a mark on the league again.

“It happens a lot in football a lot of time but the question was whether David was going to play enough at the age he is and whether he wants to be that player that comes into training every day but isn’t quite involved in the sixteen or eighteen that we take to games.

“It was the bigger picture for us and for David in terms of what was going to be the best for him and we allowed him to move on and not have the frustration in the latter years of his career of sitting around and not playing football.”