CARL Fletcher has left his position as loan manager at Cherries to become head coach at Leyton Orient.

The Daily Echo understands the 39-year-old had been offered the job on Monday and has now taken the managerial position with the League Two outfit.

He has agreed a deal until the end of the 2020-21 campaign with the O's.

Leyton Orient director of football Martin Ling said: “The board went through the interview process with Carl and he kept coming out on top.

"He has leadership skills, which he obviously had as a captain of many teams he was at including his country. Everything that we were looking for, he ticked every box.

“Everyone we spoke to said everything we wanted to hear. We spoke to Stephen Purches at Bournemouth, we had people speak to Eddie Howe and Charlie Daniels.

"We spoke to a couple players who played under him at Plymouth as well as the people at board level at Bournemouth and they all said the same thing – they believe he’s going to make a top-class football manager.”

Fletcher has previously managed in the Football League with Plymouth between 2011 and 2013.

He changed roles at Cherries last year, having previously coached the club's under-21s and under-18s.

Ross Embleton had been in temporary charge of the O's, having replaced the late Justin Edinburgh over the summer after the club clinched promotion from the National League.

Boss Eddie Howe told Cherries' website: "Carl is extremely hard-working, has really good opinions on the game and has had some brilliant experiences in the game, both as a player and as a manager.

"He understands the game inside and out, and is a born winner, which is something that he’s never lost throughout his playing career and all the way into his coaching. Carl is someone who, quite simply, loves to win.

"He is in a really good place to attack this job and the one thing you know with Carl is that he will always give his best to make the job work.

"It is a great move for both sides – for Carl and for Leyton Orient. They are a really good club who do things the right way, and Stephen Purches speaks so highly of them from his experiences there.

"I think it could be a really good match."