Orient boss Wellens signs new three-year deal

Richie Wellens steered Leyton Orient to promotion to League One in his first full season

Leyton Orient head coach Richie Wellens has signed a new three-year contract with the League One club.

The former Blackpool and Leicester City player joined the east Londoners in 2022 and led them to promotion from League Two in his first full season.

The O's finished 11th in the table this season, 11 points off a play-off spot.

“I’m really excited about what the next three years can bring us," he told the club's website.

"We have got a group of players that are young and can improve and the fact that we only finished 11 points off the play-offs with the number of injuries that we had this season excites me for the future."

Wellens played more than 700 games in his professional playing career for clubs including Blackpool, Oldham Athletic, Doncaster Rovers, Leicester, Ipswich Town, Shrewsbury Town, Salford City and Macclesfield Town.

He began his managerial career at Oldham in 2017 where he oversaw the club's relegation to League Two, before moving to Swindon Town and winning the League Two title in the Covid-19 affected 2019-20 season.

He then joined Salford City and won the delayed 2020 EFL Trophy final before a short stint at Doncaster and then a move to Orient.

The club announced yesterday they were in contract negotiations with top scorer Ruel Sotiriou.

Idris El Mizouni and Sol Brynn have returned to their parent clubs, Ipswich and Middlesbrough, after the completion of their loan deals.