New Leyton Orient head coach Ross Embleton says that having Jobi McAnuff’s “knowledge and experience” on the sidelines is “invaluable” to him.

McAnuff took up an interim player-coach role on both occasions when Embleton was named as interim head coach of the club, and now both he and Danny Webb will remain as part of the coaching staff with Embleton in permanent charge.

“It’s always going to be an evolving situation for Jobi,” Embleton said. “I know what it was like when I first stepped into first-team football, and I had 15 years of coaching behind me, Jobi hasn’t had that because he’s come in from a different angle but he’s certainly progressing in that area and his knowledge and experience is invaluable.

“It’s been tough because sometimes he’s been on crutches and not able to get outside on the grass. All of a sudden you’re part of the coaching team but not actually doing any coaching. That was really difficult. He’s stuck in here looking out of the window trying to figure out what we’re doing, sitting in meetings and having discussions but can’t actually see it coming into play.

"Just recently he’s been back out, running a lot more, still giving himself an opportunity to play, but snippets of the day that we’re training for, Jobi has been out on the pitch helping to manage sessions, helping to referee games, and I think that’s brought him much more closer to everything we do.”

It’s been a strange transition for McAnuff, who has been injured for the entirety of the current season. While remaining part of the playing squad, he has also had to add the persona of a coach to his remit, but that is a process that Embleton feels he is doing well.

He said: “A lot has been made of the fact it was a new role for me in the interim at the start of the season. It was a very new role for Jobi because he had never really coached before. He then went from being one of the lads, which he was fantastic at and had a real authority with, to wearing that black kit and having a different role with them.

“I thought it was really important that Jobi had time to find himself and how he was going to manage that role, which he’s done really well with but it was going to take time for him to do it.”