How has it come to this?

Let's not begin the full post-mortem just yet. After all, there is still a mathematical chance that Orient can get the four or possibly six points from their last three games that'd keep them safe from relegation.

But I think it's fair to say that if they do – and that's an "if" written in sky-high letters – it will be in spite of, rather than because of the current manager.

Now, I don't want to attack Fabio Liverani personally. He seems a decent guy, and I'm sure he's trying as hard as he can to do a good job. But what is evidently clear to anyone with eyes and a brain, is that he is wholly ill-equipped to be managing an English League One football club in imminent danger of relegation. He always was.

So why was he here in the first place? Because of Francesco Becchetti's arrogance, naivety and commercial interests. Let me explain.

Arrogance

Look at the breezy confidence of our president in this TV interview back in February. Sure, by then he's realised that all the money he's pumped into the club isn't going to get Orient promoted in season one, but he seems to be operating on the arrogant assumption that we couldn't possibly get relegated.

And surely that's why he felt comfortable enough to appoint someone with no experience of English – let alone League One – football, no command of the English language, and a managerial career spanning six games. "It's a new era, things take a little time," he explained and was presumably happy by then for Liverani to learn on the job, finish mid-table and then push on for promotion next season.

Naivety

The vast majority of football managers are ex-players and they all have to start somewhere. But there can't be many examples of ex-players starting their managerial career fighting a relegation battle in a league, country and language they have no experience of and making a success of it. So Becchetti's decision to place all his faith in the untested Fabio Liverani was a either a breathtaking gamble or staggering naivety. I'm going for the latter.

Commercial interests

Francesco Becchetti's TV channel is important to him. Nothing wrong with that – Barry Hearn had plenty of other commercial interests while owning the club. But the premise of the Leyton Orient reality show on Agon channel is that aspiring footballers from Italy get the chance to compete for a contract with a "prestigious" club (Becchetti's word, not mine.)

And there's nothing particularly "prestigious" about a club fighting relegation from the third tier. However, attach a high-profile ex-Italy international to the club and suddenly it seems a little more attractive to a TV audience. So I am being cynical in suggesting that the appointment of Liverani wasn't done for 100 per cent footballing reasons?

So what now? 

Are we going to get out of this? If so, it's going to be down to the players. And I still love those players. Sure, they have to accept some of the blame for this, but God knows they're not deliberately trying to get us relegated.

The truth is, you can't just chuck your 11 best players on the pitch and hope for the best. They need organisation, motivation, tactics, instructions, insight, plans...

I sit behind Fabio Liverani for home matches and see nothing much more than an obsessive devotion to micro-managing the position of a bewildered Ryan Hedges when we're defending set pieces. The manager is totally and utterly out of his depth.

So, with three games to go, I say this to the Orient squad: play for yourselves, play for the fans, play for that Somme badge on your shirt. Because only you can save us now...