Orient captain Nathan Clarke insists the players have to take responsibility for the club's relegation rather than manager Fabio Liverani taking the blame. 

Liverani has come under pressure from supporters for not being able to speak the language, his strange team selections and tactics.

But Clarke insists the players have to take responsibility for the team’s relegation rather than the manager receiving all the flak.

He said: “The season’s not been brilliant and whichever team you’re at the manager always seems to be up there getting shot at. I think we’ve got to be big enough players now to take a look at ourselves and see where we’ve made mistakes. It always seems to be the manager that gets it in the neck.”

It has been a season to forget for Orient with off-the-field problems compounded by the side’s struggles on the pitch. But Clarke refused to single out any individuals for criticism and believes everyone has to accept blame for the club’s relegation.

“I think to start pointing fingers at certain people at this stage is a little bit embarrassing,” he said. “We know it’s been a team thing and the team has not performed unfortunately. There’s not one player in there that thinks they should be at a different club and not playing with us. It’s been a team thing and we’re going to have to look at that and see where we can improve I guess.”

Orient's dreadful year was summed up by the side’s inability to beat ten-man Swindon Town after throwing away a 2-0 lead on the final day of the season. But Clarke was quick to point out their demise was caused by the whole campaign rather than Sunday’s slip-up.

He said: “We’re all obviously gutted. It’s a down dressing room at the moment and there’s just frustration. A lot of people have had their say in there but it wasn’t just this game that defined our season. It’s been throughout the season we’ve had some poor performances and it’s what has led to the situation we're in now.”

The O’s came into the season with so much expectation after adding to their squad, with ambitious signings such as Darius Henderson and Jobi McAnuff, following their near miss in last year’s play-off final at Wembley.

But Clarke feels the team have not been able to recover from a poor start and have been hindered by having four managers in charge throughout the campaign.

The 31-year-old said: “You look through the names we’ve got and I’m sure plenty of clubs would be happy to have them in their squad. It’s just not happened and we got off to a poor start this season. One thing after another off the field and it’s affected certain people and we’ve just never been able to recover. We’ve always been on the back foot throughout the season in the league and we just found it too hard to cope with certain teams.”

There are 12 players out of contract at the club this summer and the O’s captain believes it is important to hold on to the majority of the squad despite this season’s failure.

Clarke said: “I think we’ve got to tie as many down as we can. We have fantastic players and a number that are out of contract we’ll be desperate to sign them up otherwise they will be off to other teams. The manager’s got to look at that and everybody else on board to see where we need to keep hold of players and possibly let a few go to recruit one or two more.

“It’s definitely important to have stability. You look at teams that always seem to do well throughout the leagues and they’ve always got a set way of playing and set routines. The man at the top always seems to be lasting a lot longer.”

The skipper added: “I’ve got another year left on my contract and I’m the captain of the club. Of course I want to stay here as long as I can and lead the team for as many games as I can.”