Public tirades often signal the beginning of the end for football managers, the parting shot of a civil war only going one way. That is not the case for Richie Wellens at Leyton Orient.
The 46-year-old unleashed a remarkable seven-minute scolding of his players on Saturday for two reasons. He has enough credit for another season in charge, and because he knows he won’t be coaching a good number of this squad when he does.
Wellens was in no mood to celebrate despite Orient escaping relegation. He berated his players for passing it around the back towards the end of the 2-2 draw with Burton, which secured their League One status by three points after Exeter City lost to Bradford City.
And that was just the start. Wellens said “one year of my management career has been wasted by the players”, called the squad “really, really weak” and claimed they “served up rubbish”. He then apologised to the supporters. “They deserve to be clapped,” he said. “But then don’t be celebrating with your family. Get off the pitch, it’s been an embarrassing season.”
The most salient point of his outburst was around recruitment. Last year, after Orient lost the play-off final to Charlton Athletic, Wellens called that group of players “special”, “one of the best I have ever worked with as a player of manager”.
Orient’s poor recruitment
Former director of football Martin Ling also hailed the impact of their loan players in 2024-25, including Jamie Donley and Josh Keeley from Tottenham Hotspur. Charlie Kelman scored 21 league goals on loan from Queens Park Rangers.
In 2025-26, the opposite effect. No loanees shone, further proving the EFL is a roll-of-the-dice game of loans where there is rarely a middle ground. In 12 months, Orient went from free-scoring and winning regularly to leaky and shot-shy, with fans falling out of love with who they were watching.
“Our supporters last year had songs for about 10 players, we have songs for two players this year,” Wellens pointed out.
Had it not been for striker Dom Ballard, everyone at the club knows what would have happened. Rarely does a club who finishes 20th also boast the league’s player of the season, but the 21-year-old collected the EFL award, Young Player of the Season, and the Golden Boot with 23 goals.
A player on the up, Ballard’s standout campaign amid Orient’s regression – or as one supporter called him on social media, their diamond in a pile of manure – means the club’s fans are already mentally preparing for life after the forward, who reportedly has Wrexham among his suitors.
Ballard’s future
Wellens insisted Orient want to keep Ballard but admitted it is possible chairman Nigel Travis will allow him to leave for the right fee.
Regardless, a summer of upheaval looks inevitable. With defender Dan Happe and midfielder Theo Archibald among the players out of contract, and others set to be sold, a refresh could give the Orient boss the two things he craves: more athleticism and more character.
That is not easily bought. The fear will be that the scars of this season, coupled with Ballard’s potential departure, undo the hard work that saw Wellens take the club from mid-table in League Two to a game away from the Championship.
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‘The fanbase is divided’
The rant has also split supporters. “Many are saying, ‘good on him’ for his honesty on a squad which has clearly underperformed, but at the same time much of the fanbase saying Richie must assume some responsibility for this season’s form,” Steve Nussbaum, host of Orient Outlook podcast with Paul Levy, tells The i Paper.
Heading into a fifth full season in charge, it will be on Wellens – and whoever he may have at his disposal – to prove one step back hasn’t obliterated those three taken forward. Or else this tirade would have been the early death knell after all.