Leyton Orient’s disappointing season effectively ended two games early, as defeat to AFC Wimbledon killed off our already slim play-off hopes.

However, the result simply confirmed what had been clear for a while, the O’s haven’t been good enough to claim a top-seven finish let alone win promotion.

Before Saturday’s game Andy Hessenthaler and his players stressed the importance of producing a performance against Wimbledon. However their comments were not reflected on the pitch.

There was a real lack of effort and fight from the O’s and the football on display was poor. Despite their good form recently AFC Wimbledon didn’t look unbeatable, but they showed more desire and put Orient under more pressure.

The Dons forced set pieces, created chances and most important of all Lyle Taylor took one of those opportunities. In contrast the O’s didn’t get a shot on target until the second half.

Orient’s so-called play-off push ended with a whimper. The players clearly didn’t really believe that the O’s could still make the play-offs and their performances have not been good enough. Even Andy Hessenthaler didn’t appear to make much effort to get his side going from the dugout.

There seems to be a sense of resignation among supporters in the absence of hope that things will improve. Orient fans expected a poor performance and another defeat and so they were not surprised when they saw exactly that. It’s understandable given what has gone on but it’s a shame fans have been made to feel this way.

Sadly it feels like a sense of apathy has pervaded the club, particularly in recent weeks.

While the team and staff have failed to deliver the necessary results, most of the blame for this falls to Francesco Becchetti in my opinion.

Becchetti’s continued intervention has created instability and severely damaged the spirit at the club.

To appoint Kevin Nolan as player-manager and then demote him after just 15 games didn’t make sense. Becchetti believed in him enough to appoint him, but not enough to allow him to manage the team for what should have been a push for the play-offs. Nolan should have then been given the summer to build his own side.

Nolan’s results and performances in his last few games were not good but what has been gained by demoting him? He hasn’t played since, Orient haven’t improved and we have missed out on the play-offs anyway. It would have been far more beneficial to allow Nolan to gain more experience.

A big part of the problem is Becchetti’s short-termism. His inclination to sack staff and freeze players out surely contributes to a lack of effort.

In an ideal world players would give their all and perform regardless of issues off the pitch, but realistically it’s bound to have a negative effect.

If good, experienced coaches like Lee Harrison are dismissed without doing much wrong what kind of message does that send?

Becchetti’s involvement in team selection is also ridiculous quite frankly. Couple that with his interference and his reputation for firing managers, its hard to see quality, experienced managers wanting to work at Brisbane Road. It may well make it harder to attract good players too.

The president has to take a step back and recognise that he needs to allow the coaching staff to get on with their jobs.

A year on from our relegation from League One we are in a very similar situation. We’ve seen poor performances and a lack of quality and effort on the pitch.

The squad needs rebuilding again but we don’t have a manager to begin preparations for next season. Once again we are managerless and directionless.

Becchetti says he wants success and intends to stay until he achieves it. However, in order to realise that ambition he is going to have to radically change the way he runs the club and admit that his interference has not helped but rather has hindered the club’s progress.