Martin Ling (born 15 July 1966) is an English football manager and former player currently director of football for Leyton Orient. He played in over 100 Football League matches for each of Exeter City, Southend United, Swindon Town and Leyton Orient, before moving into management. He led Orient for more than five years from 2003 until 2009, and went on to manage Cambridge United, Torquay United and Swindon Town.
Playing career
Born in West Ham, Greater London, Ling started his career with Exeter City. After a brief spell at Swindon Town in which he made just two appearances, Ling began a five-year spell with Southend United in 1986. During this period he won promotion from the Fourth Division twice, in 1987 and 1990. Swindon paid £15,000 to re-sign Ling in March 1991 where he played 150 league games. As a left-winger, he played in the Swindon side that won promotion to the Premier League (via the Division One playoffs) in 1993.
Following his success at Swindon, Ling joined Leyton Orient who he would later go on to coach and manage. He played over 150 games for Orient before transferring to Brighton and Hove Albion in 2000 for a short period. Later in 2000, Ling rejoined Orient as a coach whilst continuing to play semi-professionally for Purfleet in the Isthmian League until hanging up his boots in September 2001.
Managerial career
Leyton Orient
He was appointed manager of Leyton Orient in December 2003, after a spell as caretaker manager. In the 2005–06 league campaign he guided Orient to automatic promotion from League Two on the final day of the season, and then successfully kept the club in League One in the following season. The following season, Ling was able to bring Leyton Orient to 14th position in League One, after topping the table for three months early in the season. On 18 January 2009, with Leyton Orient in 21st place and in the relegation zone, the decision was taken for Ling and his assistant Dean Smith to leave the club by mutual consent.
After leaving Orient, Ling was hired by Hibernian to set up a network of scouts in England for the Scottish Premier League club, while also identifying players himself. In May 2009, he unsuccessfully applied for the vacant managerial position at Port Vale.
Cambridge United
In July 2009, Ling was appointed the manager of Cambridge United in the Conference National, succeeding Gary Brabin who despite a successful first season had left the club due to differences with the club's chairman, George Rolls. However, after only eight days at Cambridge, Ling resigned on 4 August 2009 citing irreconcilable differences with Rolls. Cambridge United started the new season under the caretaker stewardship of Paul Carden, but after chairman Rolls left the club on 5 August 2009, Ling said he would be keen to return as manager. On 12 August, sixteen days after his initial appointment, Ling was reappointed as Cambridge manager with Carden as assistant. The Cambridge board praised his honesty, integrity and strength of character during the period between his resignation and reappointment.
After the dramatic off-field start to his Cambridge career, the on-field action started relatively calmly, with Ling guiding the club to 12th after three months of the season, including a 7–0 win over Forest Green Rovers. However, things took a dramatic turn for the worse when the club failed to win a league game between 31 October 2009 and 6 March 2010, which left them in the relegation zone in 21st place. A good end to the season – Cambridge won 9 of the final 14 games – saw Ling guide the club out of the relegation battle to a 10th-place finish.
Ling released a number of the 2009–10 squad at the end of that season, including established players such as Danny Potter and Courtney Pitt, and began to rebuild the squad in time for the upcoming season with the signings of a number of players including former Histon players Danny Wright and Danny Naisbitt in May 2010, as well as talented youngster Jai Reason. The signings of Conal Platt, Adam Miller (who reportedly turned down interest from League One sides Sheffield Wednesday and Bradford City to join the club), and veteran striker Daryl Clare, who arrived for a fee of £10,000,the signing led Ling to claim that his squad was all-but complete.