Leyton Orient have turned down approaches from Championship side Cardiff City for the services of boss Russell Slade.

The 53-year-old had emerged as odds-on favourite to take over the Welsh club on Friday, having been backed from 33/1 that afternoon to take over from Ole Gunnar Sojskjaer, who left his post with Cardiff last week.

And Slade revealed on Saturday after the O’s 2-1 win at Scunthorpe United that an approach had been made from the Championship outfit, but was in the dark as to whether the Brisbane Road outfit had allowed him permission to speak to Cardiff.

But in a statement released today, Orient revealed they have rejected approaches made by the Bluebirds.

The statement read: “On Friday morning we were contacted by a lawyer close to Cardiff City and Russell Slade, who asked us to give the permission for Cardiff to talk to Russell.

“On Friday evening Russell asked the club for the authorisation to talk to Cardiff. On Saturday the general manager of Cardiff approached us in order to ask us the permission to talk to Russell.

“In all cases, we denied Cardiff the permission to talk to Russell and we did not authorise Russell to talk to Cardiff.”

But it’s thought that will not be the end of the matter as Cardiff owner Vincent Tan looks to secure the services of his number one man for the job.

The move by the O’s to reject the advances of the Championship outfit could be to get their desired amount of compensation, with Slade keen to link up with the Welsh club.