As I write this, Orient are clinging to League One by the slimmest of threads, not only needing to win at Swindon next Sunday, but also hoping a series of events unfold in three other matches that somehow prevent Colchester, Crawley and Notts County getting the results they need to escape at our expense.

How did it come to this? While the actual season post-mortem will happen a week from now, it’s important to look at why we are in this position. Indeed, the most frequently asked question from supporters of other clubs this season is: "what has happened at Orient?"

How is a team with a top five budget, that finished third and only missed out on promotion narrowly last season, marooned in the bottom four with relegation virtually a certainty?

Form during the run-in

Since the fortuitous win at Coventry at the beginning of April, Orient have managed a grand total of no wins and three points from a possible 18, including a humiliating 6-1 thrashing at MK Dons.

In previous seasons, Os teams have managed to raise their game in crunch relegation matches, but this season the attitude has been flat during the run-in, especially the vital games at home to Doncaster and away at MK Dons and Rochdale. The team simply hasn’t looked committed or even good enough. Liverani himself even admitted that the players let their "guard drop" following the Coventry win.

Fabio Liverani

Where to start? The recruitment of an ex-Italian international as manager with barely any football management experience and none whatsoever in England, where the English language was also a problem (he still conducts all post match interviews in Italian) was always going to end in tears, even if it raised Orient’s profile on Francesco Becchetti’s Agon Channel.

Sure, everybody has to start somewhere, and he seems a nice guy based on the meet the manager evening, but football is not a personality contest, it is about results. The fans had little appetite for yet more change after so much upheaval this season (he was manager number four after all), so he was largely supported by the fans initially.

However, it is abundantly clear that he has been woefully out of his depth. Bizarre squad rotation, not knowing his best team, poor tactics (e.g. zonal marking from set pieces that has directly resulted in conceding a number of goals), inability to motivate the players and poor organisation have all been critical factors in the team’s demise. Putting good players on a pitch and hoping the team will succeed simply doesn’t work.

Players

While injuries at critical times have hampered the season, none more so than losing Romain Vincelot, Dean Cox, Darius Henderson and others for much of the run in, it is also clear that the attitude of players hasn’t helped. It is evident from body language and communication on the pitch that there is no team spirit, players taking responsibility for their performances or togetherness, whatsoever. Operating like this in a tactical and organisational vacuum and it is a recipe for relegation.

The Future

Barring a miracle, Orient will be back in League Two on Sunday. It’s been a great nine years, and many of us have been there and seen it all before, so we know what to expect in League 2. It is a massive backwards step from the progress of recent years, however.

The man controlling the destiny of the club is a far graver concern. His rather nonchalant assessment that Liverani would learn on the job during a period of transition has backfired spectacularly and the club as an asset is depreciating fast.

What is of greatest concern is the long term viability of the club on and off the pitch. With West Ham set to flood East London with cheap tickets, our future viability may be challenged. Moreover, should the owner wish to write off his £4-5 million, then the fans will be left to pick up the pieces of what is left of the club. We may not be at that stage yet, but given the cavalier spending this year, it is perfectly plausible.

Whatever league we are in, there are no guarantees that any of the necessary lessons have been learned that would stand the club in good stead for next season or beyond. With virtually the entire squad out of contract, this promises to be one of the most uncertain summers in many decades at Leyton Orient.

Andy Brown, diehard O’s fan and season ticket holder of 32 years who follows the Os around England.

Twitter @OrientMeatPie and contributor to We are Going Up, The Two Unfortunates, View from the West Stand and anyone else who will have me.