CARL Fletcher believes his most recent spell at Cherries has made him “a better person, better coach and better manager” as he begins life as Leyton Orient boss.

The 39-year-old left Cherries this week after five years back at the club he featured for more than 200 times for during his playing days.

Having left his role as Plymouth Argyle manager, a position he held between 2011 and 2013, Fletcher took up the vacancy as under-18s boss at Cherries in 2014. He then progressed up to lead the under-21s before moving to becoming the club’s loan player manager last year.

And former Wales international Fletcher feels he is now better equipped to deal with first-team management as he takes charge of the League Two O’s.

He told Orient TV: “I just feel like I’ve matured. I’ve learnt a lot.

“Looking back at the time at Plymouth, I was too young and didn’t have enough knowledge. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but at the time it seemed the right thing to do.

“You take all the experiences out of it and use it for your benefit going forward. My journey since then has been a good one and I’ve learned so much in five or six years that I feel like I’m a better person, better coach and better manager than where I was back in the Plymouth days.”

He added: “After coming away from Plymouth I knew I wasn’t ready and didn’t have the experience. I think the best way to get that is to actually go out and coach.

“I was lucky enough to get the under-18s job at Bournemouth and learnt so much. You get a certain degree of allowing yourself to make mistakes and learn from them.

“I’ve been very lucky that I was at a club with such good people around it, good coaching staff where I was able to learn on a daily basis.

“I think that was a real good test to actually work on your craft and to be able to get the jump to the under-21s was another step in that direction.

“From my point of view, it’s been great to be able to learn so much down there and use that going forward.”

Asked how much he has learned under the guidance of Eddie Howe, Fletcher said: “It’s obviously well documented how good Ed is, but there’s good other people there.

“It’s all the departments I learned from. Whether it’s the coaches, analysts, sports science, physios, I was lucky in the loans department to see the other side of football and the business side with the CEO and Richard Hughes the technical director.

“So I’ve been very lucky to be around good people and be able to take little nuggets from them and learn and grow as a person but as a coach as well, which has been great.”

Fletcher is set to watch from the stands with interim boss Ross Embleton taking charge of Orient’s trip to Grimsby on Saturday.

His first game in the dugout is due to come against former club Plymouth at Home Park on Tuesday.

“I’m really excited and very honoured to be given the job,” said Fletcher.

“I’m really looking forward to the challenges ahead.

“There’s a few people I’ve spoken to that know about Leyton Orient. Everything about it just seems to tick a lot of boxes. I’m really lucky and really honoured to be here to try and push things forward.”