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| Ian Hendon and his Leyton Orient side sit top of League Two following relegation last season |
LYING on a lounger on a beach in Mauritius, the phone was clasped to his ear almost non-stop. His partner Linda was not impressed.
It was not much of a holiday for Ian Hendon. But then just days before he got on the plane he had been handed the manager's job at Leyton Orient. Relegated to the fourth tier of football, shattered, broken Leyton Orient. To say there was work to be done was putting it mildly.
Five weeks into the season, missing the paddling and sunbathing seems to have been worth it. Orient sit proudly top of League Two with five wins out of five matches, and alongside Manchester City are the only unbeaten team in England. Who needs an extra dab of factor 50?
Hendon, a former Orient captain who played more than 130 games for the club over three years, moved 10 players in over the summer and almost as many out in a lightning turnaround as he attempted to piece a new squad back together.
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| Sean Clohessy (pictured) and his O's side sit alongside Man City as the only unbeaten English teams |
And the 43-year-old, who moved across East London to take the job in May having been Sam Allardyce's first-team coach at West Ham, takes his side to Exeter today knowing the hard work has only just begun.
A year can be a long time in football. At Orient it certainly was. In May 2014 they were 2-0 up at Wembley in the League One play-off final and dreaming of the Championship. They lost on penalties. Twelve months on and they had finished 23rd and back were in the basement.
Hendon said: "I got the job and then went on holiday and I was basically on the phone the whole time. I rang every player that was still here and introduced myself to them.
"By then, a lot had gone already, and some said to me they didn't want to stay. So I was getting in as many good players as I could. It was hard work.
"When you come in you do look at it and think, 'What went wrong here?' But actually when you look at the squad and players like Dean Cox, you can see why Orient did get to the play-offs. These are good players, intelligent players. My job was to get that going again."
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| Hendon was formerly first-team coach at West Ham under the management of Sam Allardyce |
More bewildering than what was going on on the pitch at the Matchroom Stadium was what was happening off it. After the play-off defeat Barry Hearn sold the club to Italian businessman Francesco Becchetti, who soon found himself without manager Russell Slade, who left for Cardiff.
Becchetti went through another three managers as the club went into freefall. Hendon was brought in as the steadying hand, the man who knows the club.
"When I went in for the interview there were three Italian guys there. I wouldn't say it was daunting, but it was unusual," he said.
"But to be fair, the president has backed me all the way. In every meeting I have had with him he has been 100 per cent behind me. He has admitted they made mistakes last year, and they want to put them right.
"We have not just changed the playing staff round, we have changed practically the whole backroom staff as well. And the players have responded. They have been pleased with the turnaround.
"We have started well, but really this is only a platform for us to go on from. This is a tough league to get out of. We have found that out already."
The former Barnet boss says he learned a lot working with Allardyce.
"I had a good few years with Sam at West Ham. It was a massive eye opener and a learning curve for me, the way he organised things, his eye for detail. He has been a big influence," said Hendon.
"I think the fans are enjoying the brand of football we are playing, which is pleasing. But we all know it is just the beginning. There are 15 or so teams in this division that can win promotion and I believe we are one of them."
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