Scott Cuthbert believes Kevin Nugent deserves a shot at becoming the club’s new head coach.

Nugent is believed to have been offered the position and defender Cuthbert thinks it would be a wise appointment for the League 1 club.

Cuthbert said: “He’s been here the same time as the gaffer has since I’ve been at the club. He’s a fantastic coach, knows his football and I don’t see why not. It would be fantastic if we could give Nuge and Andy [Edwards] a shot.

“Nuge has been the first-team coach since I’ve been at the club. He takes training and I’ve done a lot of sessions with Andy with the young boys and he’s a fantastic coach. The two of them are working well and they’ve got their own ideas. I don’t know what the situation is [on the job] but they’ll be there putting more ideas in as well.”

One of Nugent’s first decisions as caretaker boss was to hand the captaincy to Cuthbert after leaving club skipper Nathan Clarke on the bench. But the 27-year-old insisted his role in the side would not alter regardless of whether he leads the teamss.

Cuthbert said: “Clarkey’s the club captain and a fantastic captain as well. Nothing really changes to be honest when I get the armband. I just go out there and try to play my game and nothing changes whether I’ve got it or not.”

The last couple of weeks have seen plenty of upheaval at Brisbane Road with Russell Slade’s future on the line prior to his resignation. But Cuthbert insisted the players have not focused on these distractions and simply concentrated on sticking to their jobs.

“I think we’ve handled it as well as we can,” he said. “At the end of the day as players we’ve just got to put everything that’s happened on the outside and sto the back of our minds.

“We’ve got a job to do. We show up for training, we work hard and try to get a result on a matchday. That’s all we can do. We can’t get ourselves all mixed up in what happens within the boardroom or management. We’ve just got a job to do and we’ll do it.”

Cuthbert was signed by Slade in 2011 and has nothing but praise for him following his departure.

The defender said: “He was fantastic for me. He brought me to the club on the back of relegation and a bad season with Swindon. I came here and he gave me the confidence to play.

“This is my fourth year and I had three fantastic seasons with him so I’ve got nothing but good things to say about him. I hope if he takes the Cardiff job he goes onto good things because he’s certainly been fantastic with me.”

Orient have endured a miserable start to the season at Brisbane Road with four defeats and a draw. Their chance to get off the mark comes against third-placed Swindon Town on Saturday and Cuthbert is relishing the opportunity against one his former clubs.

The defender said: “I’m pleased after the week we’ve had we had Tuesday off and can relax and regroup because there has been a lot of games recently.

“We’re going to have to get a win at home sooner rather than later and get the monkey off our back. What better time to do it than against my former club? I’d love to get the three points, that’s for sure.”