Leyton Orient director of football has explained the decision to part company with head coach Carl Fletcher after less than a month in the job.

The O's were winless under Fletcher in his short time in charge, including the embarrassing FA Cup exit to non-league side Maldon & Tiptree.

The former Plymouth Argyle boss was relieved of his duties yesterday afternoon and Ling has explained why the club were compelled to make the move and why the appointment happened in the first place.

He told the club website: "I'm disappointed that we've had to make that decision. The integrity of Carl and Carl as a person was spot on. 

"It just didn't fit into what we had as a coaching unit and the ethos of the football club. Sometimes you can run with it and stick with it and then make the decision later on but I feel sometimes when you make these types of decisions and you make them quickly, you get less pain.

He continued: "It was a decision we felt we had to make quickly. I keep saying about the fit and what we are as a club and the fit just didn't feel right. 

"It never had the feel that I thought could take us forward. The board have been fully backing of the situation as well. Sometimes in life you have to make difficult decisions. The easiest thing for me to do and the board to do was to stick with it and see if things changed. We felt that wasn't going to be the case."

As with before Fletcher's appointment, assistant head coach Ross Embleton will step into an interim role, assisted by Danny Webb and Jobi McAnuff, and Ling feels he can have as much success this time around as he did in his previous stint.

He said: "Ross is going to come in and do a very, very solid job, there's no doubt about it. He was doing that before Carl came into the building so it goes back onto Ross.

"I think the word 'interim', I said it last time and I'll say it again, means it can be as long or as short as we want. I want the buzz, I want the feel-good factor back into the club and Ross' job, starting tomorrow, is to get that feeling back in there."