The Sands of Time: Doomsday for the Original Franchise FC?
While a good majority of the negative attention surrounding relocation of football clubs is aimed at McDons (Milton Keynes Dons, the franchise that replaced Wimbledon F.C.), and with good reason, many tend to forget that they were not the first in Britain. In Scotland, what is now Livingston FC did the same thing in 1995 when they, then known as Meadowbank Thistle, abandoned Edinburgh in favor of a new stadium in the new town of Livingston, West Lothian.
Originally a works team called Ferranti Thistle founded in 1943, the club adopted the Meadowbank moniker in 1974 when they were accepted into the league as the SFL had regulations against the corporate naming of clubs. Meadowbank were Edinburgh’s third league club after the famous Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian and never achieved anywhere near the success or popularity of their city rivals, though they did have passionate supporters. Meadowbank played their home matches across the street from Hibernian’s Easter Road at the soulless and cold but aptly named Meadowbank Stadium, the main venue for the 1970 Commonwealth Games.
Meadowbank’s luck was hardly the best: they were once denied promotion to the Premier Division after the league decided to realign and reduce the number of top flight clubs and later would suffer an even more cruel fate as they finished mid-table and got relegated as the league again decided to realign and reduce the number of clubs in every division. Club management, lead by Bill Hunter, claimed that this, combined with a second successful relegation the following season, ruined Meadowbank financially and the club was on the verge of being closed. However, many Meadowbank supporters rebuke this claim, and despite their impassioned protest the club was moved to the Almondvale Stadium in West Lothian and renamed Livingston Football Club.
Unlike McDons, which was forced by the Football Supporters’ Federation to transfer all of Wimbledon FC’s history to the London Borough of Merton — the spiritual home of the Wombles — Livingston FC still claims all of Meadowbank’s history which includes a Scottish Qualifying Cup in 1974 and a Scottish Second Division title in 1985/1986. While the history may not be illustrious, it belongs in Edinburgh, not Livingston.
Life as Livingston has been eventful to say the least. The club has been in the UEFA Cup following a third place finish in the SPL, has won a Scottish League Cup, has been relegated and has been in administration during a period in which they were hilariously sponsored by a company called “Intelligent Finance”.
In its 14 years since the move to West Lothian the club has employed no less than fifteen managers, including two spells by Dunfermline legend Jim Leishman. Yes, Livingston’s mad boardroom, which changes as often as the managers, seems to think they are Real Madrid Scotland. The current chairman is Italian Angelo Massone who recently refused to pay the light bill at the Almondvale Stadium to show fans who had been critical of him what happens when he doesn’t put his own money into the club. The problem is, nobody seemed to care. It wasn’t really their club to begin with. To many in Livingston, it was fun while it lasted, but Manchester United are on television every weekend.
On June 30th, 2009 the West Lothian Council, who ironically helped bait the team to Livingston, announced they would sue the club for rent arrears: LFC owes the council £300,000 or nearly $500,000. This could see the club enter administration once again, and more than likely see its doors closed for the final time. The council seem willing to make a deal with Massone, who has stated he is making arrangements to pay a higher monthly fee, but if he couldn’t pay the original fee, how will he pay the new one? Not to mention the fact that the club may owe six figures in unpaid taxes.
There is a saying, “what comes around, goes around”, and it really does seem to be coming back around for Livingston. Bill Hunter may no longer be at the helm, but the spector of that day still looms large over the empty yellow seats in West Lothian. Fittingly, if Livingston go bust, one of the candidates to replace them may well be Edinburgh City, who call Meadowbank home.
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Bobby Brandon
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- The Sweeper: No Profitable Days for Newcastle and Why European Soccer Won’t Kill America | Pitch Invasion
- The Sweeper: Livingston’s Demotion and Crisis in Scottish Football | Pitch Invasion
I stay about 20 minutes from Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh and Livigston is 20 mins away. There is a chance Edinburgh City could bid for league admission if Livi go bust but they are up againt a range of opponents.
Another Edinburgh club (Spartans FC) located in the north of the city have aspiration of league admission but have been turned down three or four times. Overall they see themselves as a league club, with relevant structure and facilities but the club thinks more of itself than it actually really is. The SFL have sticky relations with the club but should Livi fail Spartans may well get admitted as the SFL tend to replace the disappearing club with some club from the similar area. Annan Ath. replaced Gretna.
Preston Atheltic will bid should Livi fold as will GalaFairydean. There are a range of strong clubs around in the Lothian area such as Lithlithgow but these clubs are at junior level and as such probably better staying at this level due to costs, finance and the likes.
The problem with Livingston is that it is a ‘failed’ project. The similarities to Gretna are there but its not a mirror images. Whilst Gretna was a small town with a shop and post office Livingston is a commuter town full of shops and workers. The problem is that it is not a particularly ‘nice place’ is pretty soul-less and everyone that stays there is an outsider i.e. there affiliation with Livingston FC is not there.
Some people see Livingston as a ‘Glasgow’ overspill and with that there are thousands of Celtic and Rangers fans in the town. Livingston tried the ‘family root’ when the reached the SPL in the early 2000’s. Families relocating to the areas were encouraged to come along and support the team with children in tow but it lasted a few season and died a death once they got relegated. They tried to create a ‘popcorn and cok club’ and it failed. Another problem was that they attracted players who were paid extravengent money (mostly foreign players) and they bled the club dry.
Dominic Keane (one time chairman/owner/CEO type) came in and was all smiles but got out as soon as the going got tough. A succession of failed managers came in and lasted from 1 month to a season. The last chairman Flynn Pearce was a new Irish entrepreneur type figure. He was as far away from grass roots football as you can get. He was there to try and make money from the town but failed miserably.
Owners such as the Irishman or Angelo Massone are like your mad auntie who appears at a family reunion party and sit in the corner babbling nonsense and delusional goobledeegook. They (Massone et al) arrived with all these delusions of European football and Champions League qualification but really they are so far away from reality it is scary. Is it any wonder that Livingston are near to death having been run by such corporate clowns? (QPR fans beware as you have a ‘mad auntie’ of your own spouting nonsense in Briatore).
Meadowbank folded as it was just a joke of a club really. The ground was litterly 10minutes from Easter Road (Hibernian) and the local grass roots support base was non existent. Crowds were down to a few hundred at best. People went to see Meadowbank as it was something to do, its players were part time or journeymen. Aside from darren Jackson very few came out of the club and went onto be internationals.
On the positive side some fans of Livi really care about the club and its future. They have been there since the start but the distain that the owners of the club and for that matter the culture in Scottish football has for anyone or any fan group seen as ‘different’ is shocking.
Livingston FC were one of the first to have an ‘Ultras type’ group called the drum beat mafia (DBM). I say ‘Ultra type’ as they are generally a bunch of 15 year olds with enthusiasm seeking to generate an atmosphere in what is otherwise a soulless ground. Nevertheless, they try and organise flag displays, make two stick banners and stand together at games. However the club have tried banning them, stewards at games have hassled them and as far as I aware the current owner ‘Angelo Massone’ has tried to expel some of them from the ground.
Overall the general ethos and stream of policy from administrators in Scotland is one of disdain for the fan. Groupings loosley trying to create a ultra type atmosphere (however small or young they may be) are treated like dirt by the club as the SFL and SPL have this big agenda with creating ‘family’ football. Livingstons aim or should I say delusion is to attract ‘families’ to the ground in Livingston and hencewith business will follow on. Needless to say this approach is failing and everyday the club slips closer to oblivion and the SFL watch on. The prices charged to get in and watch poor football in a soulless ground are scarily shocking £15-£20 and the atmosphere and teams on display are poor.
Why any ‘consortium’ would want to buy Livingston is a mystery. There is non potential aside form one season in the SPL and then back down again. There is no money in that either and won’t be for some time. The situation at Livingston is so similar to SETANTA it is incredible. We all know what happened to Setanta with deluded management spending and wasting weeks trying to bail the business out and failing. The same goes for Livingston and its future.
If Livingston were a traditional club that had a loyal grass roots fan base developed over a hundred years it would be sad to see them go. As it is the club has been run by clowns for a number of years and it really would be best for the clubs fans to see them disband and for the fans themselves to resurrect the club themselves and play in a lower league. They would get so much more control and enjoyment out of it.
The ground meanwhile should be demolished just the town of Livingston itself should be flattened.
Thanks for that.
I remember Spartans cup run a few years back, though it’s difficult to follow the Scottish Cup in America as we have to rely on the internet, there’s no television save for the final and with Setanta’s issues that’s in question. I though they were rather well organized but punching above their weight when they tried to enter the league. That said, Annan have – thus far – shown that you can do well with limited resources if you use them correctly.
The club trying to drive out the Drum Beat Mafia is insane and I’d like to have the officials trying to do it on a breathalyzer. They really are the core of Livi’s support, and in the bad times, most of Livi’s support. Despite my distaste for the way the club came about in Livingston, I do feel so sympathy with the supporters who are being forced out, that’s sickening as the supporters are the heart and soul of any football club.
You’re correct about Almondvale, it’s an awful little plastic stadium that looks like it was built from Lego.
The difference with Gretna, for me, is that Gretna FC always belonged to Gretna. It was a part of the community, I don’t think Livi would’ve ever achieved that type of connection with Livingston. Like you said, if it had been a grassroots club it would’ve been much different, but DBM aside, I don’t know who would possibly miss it in two years time. Maybe you’re right in saying the fans should start a team in the lower leagues, the problem may be in some people actually thinking Livingston is too big for that though.
It’s a strange situation, no doubt. I cannot stand the club because I hate the idea of moving clubs so much, but like I said, I do feel for the likes of the DBM. It would be nice to see a club like Gala Fairydean, or even Cove Rangers make the jump as they’re clubs with tradition and supporters.
“They tried to create a ‘popcorn and cok club’ and it failed.”
– Is it any wonder a strategy aimed at getting kids in failed with a name like that.
Well it should be they tried to create a ‘popcorn and coca cola’ type club.
Needless to say that failed as well
The latest update from Livingston is that the owner (Massone) wants a community meeting with at the fans, local business community at 12noon on saturday 4th July at the ground. All invited. Lucky the weather here in Scotland is really warm just now so the fact they have no electricity will not be a problem.
You should be able to keep track of what is going on from BBC website but its desperation time for Livingston.
As far as DBM goes they are better off out of the club anyway. The club, its security personal, stewards take great delight in hassling a samll bunch of fans every game just for creating a bit of noise shows what a farce the whole club and scottish football is. There are people at that club who care of course but they have as much influence and chance of saving it as the captain did of saving the titantic. A recent appeal for funds by the club raised £150.49p which should tell you something.
There will be other clubs in Scotland going to the wall. Gretna were unlucky but the fact that they spent above there weight, had a weird crackpot benefactor and came from a hamlet with about 3,000 people did not help. Gretna could never be a Hoffenheim type club, Scottish football is too lop sided and parochial.
Clyde FC are struggling as are a number of other clubs. Rangers (the most prominant club in Scotland alongside Celtic) have massive financial problems. However, they have guaranteed participation in the Champions League next year so the incoming of a mimimum £15 million or 25 million euros will help.
Crowds in general are poor in scotland and the product even at a high level is dire, boring and dull. Atmosphere at games is also quite poor even at the big clubs. Over familiarity is rife amonsgt teams, players and fans. The matchday atmosphere at Celtic and Rangers in SPL games is terrible. The culture is not benefitting to any grouping trying to create something different.
Motherwell lost last night to Llanelli a welsh part time club in the Europa League. This is a new low for Scottish football and says a lot about the standard for the year ahead.
Clubs qualifying for Europe is the high point of a season really. If you get a few games in Europa league from August to Janaury then it helps to keep interest in domestic fare going.
There are very few television companies wanting to invest in Scottish football other than the big two clubs. Radio coverage of scottish football at all levels via BBC is very good but any TV coverage quickly becomes old form centric which does no other team or fans any good. There is no money in it.
As mentioned Clydebank folded and the fans set up a smaller club. A smaller club has been set up by Gretna fans.
Meadowbank, Ferranti Thistle all folded but there association with Livingston are non existant. Most people who were involved with the two clubs got involved with other grass roots clubs such as Spartans or Preston Athletic. Dont believe the talk that Livingston was a natural progression from the first two. That is and was a lie to sell the club to the new community of ‘Livingston’. Clyde Fc are a famous historical club from the centre of Glasgow. It moved from its roots to another new town ‘Cumbernauld’ 16 miles outside Glasgow with the view that it could somehow attract people from this community into the club. It has failed to do this and is in a similar situation to Livingston. At the start of each season (Clyde) holds open sessions for players for the new season. Young players released by other clubs get a trial and become first team regulars. By the start of the following season it starts again. But it is a mess largely due to these ‘entrpreneur’ business types who get involved with all these fancy marketing ideas for the club that are delusions that never work.
Clyde have a set of traditional fans and a supporter base who care about the club. But the traditional fans of Clyde get treated badly are ignored when they try and provide views as to the future of the club. People at boardroom level are caught up in there own ideas which have no direction.
Livingston is as big a plastic club as you can get. The people who have been in charge of it are not ‘football people’ believe me. They are self seeking small minded businessmen with egotistical ideas of being more import business men. These people have used clubs like Livingston as a toy to feed there own ego and are failures.
Very few in Scottish football will cry tears when Livingston fold.
The meeting today by all accounts was a disaster of titanic proportions.
Very few turned up, very little emotion shown by fans aside from a fans spokeman demanding that the club be put into Administration to save it.
It will be a messy business and the club is going downhill fast.
I remember when Livingston came to town. We played against the players in a get to know you games it was good something different. Watch as a club from Edinburgh came to Livingston and ask the local people to support them, which we did. Regardless of where they came from the local people toke there kids,payed the not so cheap,and watch.Got the strips and all the rest went to the night club drank the beer. Watch as no hope or chance club won it’s game’s climbed the league’s and found itself in the big SPL.
Well how would believe it and didn;t they hate livi, all you would here is livi are nothing just some wee team.
The C.I.S that didn’t matter how cares to win that cup, just every team how’s worth there salt i ?
There first season in the SPL and in UEFA finished well not to many club’s can say they did such a no chance thing but livi aren;t just any club. Not even 20 year have gone and livi have made the biggest impact any team would dream off. The truth take the good with the bad. By the way intelligence finance is the HBOS
Am sure Gretna would hate to have that Lego stadium which has the same spec as every other club and look allot like every other. I think Livingston is a product of Scottish football and the state in which it finds itself . just like every team in history it had to start some where. I hope livi can pull it back and prove it’s got what it takes. Just to show that even small no chance club’s in football can win can succeed against it all.
GO ON LIVI