Livingston F.C.

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Livingston F.C.

Full name

Livingston Football Club

Nickname(s)

Livi Lions

Founded

1943

Ground

Almondvale Stadium,
Livingston, Scotland
(Capacity 10,122)

Chairman

Pearse Flynn

Manager

Mark Proctor

League

Scottish First Division

2006-07

Scottish First Division, 6th





Home colours





Away colours

Original Livingston FC club badge.

Livingston Football Club is a Scottish football team based in Livingston, West Lothian. They currently play in the First Division. They are currently managed by Mark Proctor.

1 History
2 Honours
3 Managers
4 Famous players
5 Current squad
6 Club records
7 See also
8 External links

Early Ferranti Thistle FC club badge.

Meadowbank Thistle FC club badge.

The club began life as Ferranti Thistle in 1943. A works team, they initially played in the East of Scotland League. The team played at Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh. Following the demise of Third Lanark, a place opened up in the second division of the Scottish Football League. After beating off competition from four Highland League sides, Hawick Royal Albert and Gateshead United, Ferranti Thistle were accepted into the league by a vote of 21-16 over Inverness Thistle. However, due to stringent SFL rules on overt sponsorship of teams at the time, Ferranti Thistle were forced to change their name to take their place in the league. After a campaign by the Edinburgh Evening News to find a name for the club, the name Meadowbank Thistle was chosen, and approved by the SFL in time for the new season.

Having had little time to form a squad from the existing Ferranti squad, the first Meadowbank Thistle manager John Bain faced an uphill task to produce a competitive squad in time for the new season. Meadowbank played their first competitive match on 9 August 1974 against Albion Rovers in the League Cup, eventually losing 1-0 despite the strenuous efforts of a go-go dancer hired to mark the occasion.

Their apex came in the late 1980s. In the 1986-87 season, Meadowbank won the Scottish Division Two championship and won promotion to Division One. They finished Division One runners-up the following season but were denied promotion to the Premier Division due to a streamlining the size of the division.

The club suffered from the restructuring of the Scottish Football League for the 1994–95 season; having finished mid-table in Division One, it was relegated to Division Two because the league was scrapping its format of two 12-club and one 14-club divisions in favour of four divisions of 10 clubs. Meadowbank suffered a second successive relegation in 1994–95, finishing second from bottom in Division Two. After this, Meadowbank ran into severe financial difficulties, and were facing closure as a result. As a result, and in the face of significant opposition from many Meadowbank fans who objected to the dropping of the club name and the team moving from Edinburgh, in 1995 Meadowbank Thistle relocated to a new stadium in the new town of Livingston and changed name again, to Livingston F.C..

Livingston F.C's first season ended in triumph as they were crowned champions of the Scottish Division Three for the 1995-96 season. Three years later, in 1998-99, they won promotion again as Division Two champions. Another promotion followed in 2000-01 when the club finished champions of Division One and gained promotion to the Scottish Premier League after just six seasons in existence. Livingston's first SPL campaign, 2001-02, brought more success as they finished third in the league (behind Celtic and Rangers) and qualified for the UEFA Cup. The club's reputation grew particularly after a competent showing in the UEFA Cup, after desposing of FC Vaduz of Switzerland, (Even though they are a Liechtenstein team), on the away goal rule after a 1-1 draw, they came up against SK Sturm Graz of Austria, and after a thrilling 14 goal, 2 leg affair they narrowly missed out on the second round, going out on the wrong side of an astonishing 8-6 aggregate scoreline. The club avoided the second season syndrome however finishing 9th the following season. Livingston won their first National trophy in 2004 by winning the Scottish League Cup after a 2-0 win over Hibernian at Hampden Park.

However the club's rise was short lived as they went into administration. Many fans found this ironic considering their sponsor for a while was Intelligent Finance.

Livingston have recently come out of financial administration following a period of financial turmoil in which the previous boardroom occupants were ousted to make way for Pearse Flynn's Lionheart Consortium.

On February 11, 2006, Paul Lambert resigned as Livingston manager after 12 straight defeats leaving Livingston bottom of the Scottish Premier League. He was replaced by former player and coach John Robertson .

Despite his best efforts, Livingston were relegated for the first time in May 2006, and a poor showing in the 2006/07 First Division saw John Robertson removed as Livingston manager on 15 April 2007. His successor was announced on the 22nd May 2007 as former Hibernian FC assistant coach Mark Proctor. Mark Proctor appointed Curtis Fleming as his assistant on the 26th of June 2007. After 16 games, Livingston are 5th in the league, with 20 points

Scottish League Cup Winners (1) - 2004
Scottish First Division Winners (1) - 2000-01
Scottish Second Division Winners (2) - 1985-86¹, 1998-99
Scottish Third Division Winners (1) - 1995-96
Scottish Challenge Cup Runners Up (1) - 2000-01
Scottish Qualifying Cup (South) Winners (1) - 1973-74²

¹ This includes honours won between 1974 and 1995, when the club was known as Meadowbank Thistle.

² This includes honours won between 1943 and 1974, when the club was known as Ferranti Thistle.

Jim Leishman (1995-1997)
Ray Stewart (1997-2000)
Jim Leishman (2000-2003)
Marcio Maximo Barcellos (2003)
David Hay (2003-2004)
Allan Preston (2004)
Richard Gough (2004-2005)
Paul Lambert (2005-2006)
John Robertson (2006-2007)
Mark Proctor (2007-)

No.		Position	Player
		GK	Colin Stewart
		GK	Mariusz Liberda
		DF	Dave Mackay
		DF	James McPake (Club Captain)
		DF	Craig James
		DF	Mark Tinkler
		DF	Dermot McCaffrey (on loan from Hibernian)
		MF	Liam Fox
		MF	Mark Torrance
		MF	Allan Walker (out on loan to Raith Rovers)
		MF	Lee Makel

No.		Position	Player
		MF	Joe Hamill
		MF	Julius Raliukonis
		MF	Jason Kennedy (on loan from Middlesbrough)
		FW	Steven Craig
		FW	Tomas Pesir
		FW	Graham Dorrans
		FW	Lee Matthews
		FW	Leigh Griffiths
		FW	Colin McMenamin (on loan from Gretna)
		FW	Robert Snodgrass
		FW	Steven Weir

Record Victory: 7 - 0 v Queen of the South, 29 January, 2000
Record Defeat: 0 - 7 v Hibernian, 8 February, 2006
Record Defeat (incl. Meadowbank): 0 - 8 v Hamilton Academical, 14 December, 1974