For the second year in a row, Scottish football faces the real possibility of losing another team before the season even begins.
West Lothian Council have begun legal proceedings against Livingston FC over a rent-arrears, said to be around £280,000, for the use of the Almondvale ground. The club and in particular owner and chairman Angelo Massone, now has 14 days to repay the money or face being wound up.
It’s all such a far cry from the days when they won promotion to the SPL in 2001, finishing third and qualifying for the UEFA cup in their first ever season in Scotland’s top division.
The legal action is the latest in a catalog of financial mismanagement and incompetence at the First Division side. The Inland Revenue where the first to threaten the club with administration as they sought repayment of an unpaid tax bill to the value of £100k. Earlier this month, Scottish Power cut the electricity to the ground over an unpaid £32k bill. To make matters worse, the club where also fined by the SFA for failing to submit end-of-season accounts “properly”, while last month the Scottish Football League withheld a £50,000 payment to Livingston.
Owner Massone has had a turbulent reign at the helm since he bought the club for £1 from Pearse Flynn in June 2007. Making claims to make Livingston the ‘third force in Scottish football” within three seasons certainly got every one’s attention. Following the lifting of the embargo on transfers at the club after Massone settled a dispute with ex-captain Emmanuel Dorado and paying him 50,000 in back wages Dorado was owed, Livingston appointed a new manager, Roberto Landi, ex-Celtic legend Davie Hay as Director of football and managed to hold on to most of their star players over the summer transfer season.
With the club leading the First division by September things seemed to be going well down at the Almondvale. But by November, the first signs of trouble emerged. A series of creditors, including the Inland Revenue, Scottish Power and a mobile disco began making claims. By December, the club where without a manager as Landi is sacked following a shock defeat to East Fife in the Homecoming Scottish Cup. Having taken just just four points from a possible 18 in the league, it all suddenly seemed to be going wrong for Livingston
Paul Hegarty was appointed manager shortly afterwards, but within four months he had been suspended for what the club called “gross misconduct”. The former Dundee United player was formally sacked by the club last month, with neither Hegarty or his assistantGraeme Roberts having been paid by the club since April of this year.
With the debts showing no signs of being settled and Massone clearly struggling to keep the club afloat, he launched a fund-raising appeal to supporters which rather embarrassingly raised just under £150. Some funds where raised following the sale of Leigh Griffiths to Dundee for £125,000, but it’s unlikely to be enough to keep the council – and the other creditors – from doing what seems sadly inevitable. With the club once again in administration for the second time in its short and turbulent history, few doubt that there will be First divison football in the town come the start of the 2009/10 season.
The situation at Livingston bears some resemblance to those that eventually saw the end of Gretna as a footballing concept. Both had rich owners subsidising the team, with Massone claiming on several occasions that it was his money that kept the club alive. This was demonstrated very ably when, after the electricity was cut off, Massone announced that he had deliberately not paid the bill to show that unless he spent his own money, the club could not function.
The late Brooks Mileson was in a similar position. Effectively he bankrolled Gretna, overseeing the rise of the Dumfries side from playing in the lowest reaches of Scottish football to the SPL in six seasons until he too ran into difficulties, partly through overspending on staff not being backed up with performances on the pitch or attendances in the stand. When he withdrew his financial support, it sent the club into financial free-fall. With debts of nearly £4m at the time of Mileson’s withdrawal the club was forced into administration and by the spring of 2008 it was revealed by administrator Wilson Field that Gretna had creditors of nearly £4m and assets of less than £1m. HM Revenue and Customs was also owed nearly £600,000. The club was relegated to the Third Division before finally collapsing in a mountain of debt, ending their meteoric rise up the leagues and consigning 42 years of history to the football book of remembrance.
Back at Livingston, Massone’s reluctance at seeing the consequences his actions are causing has seen frustration rise amongst the supporters and town officials. The Livi Lions Supporters Group was planning a protest at the stadium, while MSP Angela Constance has called on Massone to “pay up or go”.
Earlier on this week there was still some hope of a reprieve for Livingston. Former Dumbarton owner Neil Rankine was in discussion with Massone over a rescue package, but Massone has said he will not sell his stake, turning down an offer from former Cowdenbeath chairman Gordon McDougall to buy the club.
The future certainly looks bleak. With no main sponsor for this season (the RDF group pulled out earlier), even if a new owner is found before the club is shut down, Livingston face another issue: following a safety inspection at the ground, their safety certificate was annulled meaning the club are not able to host football matches with the public in attendance until the safety concerns are addressed. With the next inspection not until 30 July, the friendly game against Plymouth, due to be played on 20 July will have to be cancelled or played behind closed doors.
In a final desperate act, Massone today named former goalkeeping coach John Murphy as manager, but few doubt he’ll have much to do as the players returned to Almondvale on for pre-season training. Should Livingston go under, the clubs to benefit include Airdrie and Cowdenbeath, last seasons losing play-off finalists. It will also mean having to elect a new team to replace Livi – candidates include two teams that lost out to Annan Athletic in the race to replace Gretna: Cove Rangers and Spartans, who used to play at the City Parkground, once the home of Ferranti Thistle, who, together with Meadowbank Thistle are one of the forerunners of the current Livingston FC.
Whatever happens, for the sake of the supporters of Livingston FC, let’s hope that a resolution is found soon.
It has probably gone unnoticed to many, but there is a team in Scottish football that has put together a run of results that has seen them go unbeaten since the end of September across all competitions.
It’s Monday morning, which means it is Performance of the Week time. This week, we have a bit of a first, in that all our nominations come from the lower leagues. That’s not to say that the SPL didn’t have any noteworthy performances. Take Hibernian for example, who eased past a very poor Motherwell side, ending a run of six games without winning. Hamilton Accies where within seconds of getting a nomination for this weeks ‘Performance of the Week’, had it not been for Brian Easton’s own goal right at the death of the match which earned opponents Dundee United a valuable point. Or how’s about Ross County, who took revenge on Airdrie United for that Alba Cup final defeat the other week – they won 2-0. A week too late, but never mind.