Livi Til I Die and the Lions Roar Again

I left work at about 5:30 to head to Dean Bowling Club to play bowls in the Edinburgh Activity Mix Decathalon. We managed to get into the third/fourth playoff and we narrowly beaten 5-4. The net result of being in a zone of concentration playing sport is that iI wasn't refreshing the news feeds every five minutes for News of Livingston FC.

I opened my laptop once I got unto the platform at Haymarket and did refresh the BBC page for Scottish Division one to be greeted with the headline Livingston Saved from Liquidation and whooped with joy. I may also have uttered the odd expletive, so apologies to any fellow travellers. Too be honest I have still on cloud nine and I've only had one dark rum and coke all evening. I had my Livi top in my back and am now proudly wearing it on top of my sweatshirt.

The basic facts are that the SFL appear to have accepted that Neil Rankine and Gordon McDougall were the best hope for Livingston's continued survival. Angelo Massone turned up at Hampden but was turned away from the 3 hour meeting: he was the obstruction not the saviour.

The two experienced football bosses will help to manage the club for the next season which the SFL have accepted is a doable proposition. MacDougall ad earlier this month resigned from the board of Divisional rivals Dunfermline to show his commitment to the cause.

All I can just now it I'm Livi til I Die and long may that association continue.

Even Pearse Flynn Urges Massone to Go

The man who sold the controlling interest in Livingston to Angelo Massone for £1 last summer, former owner and Chairman Pearse Flynn, has urged the Italian to 'do the right thing before it is too late'; ie 2pm this afternoon.

Speaking in today's West Lothian Courier he says when he sold the club there was £278,000 of debt. Massone has been saying in recent weeks that the club had been left crippling debts, but nowhere near the £1.8 that the administrator is reportedly saying exist. Chairman of the Livi for Life Supporters Trust and shareholder under both Flynn and Massone Ged Nixon added:

"It is frightening, knowing what he inherited and what the declared liability was, compared to now.

"He insists he has put £500,000 into the club but whatever you believe, if we take him at his word then he has lost something in the region of £1million on top of that which is simply not possible for a club the size of Livingston."

When from a fans point of view you consider that the star players have been sold in the last 12 months, Graham Dorrans to West Brom, Dave MacKay and Murray Davidson to St. Johnstone and Leigh Griffiths to Dundee, even if for cheap valuations one has to wonder how?

Pearse Flynn said:

"I sold the club to him for £1 with debts of £278,000 while he claimed to have £1.6m to invest in the club.

"I remember saying to [Massone] that if he didn't have the money then not to get involved.

"I don't feel good at all about what has happened since he has taken over."

He also urged the current owner to accept the £25,000 that is on the table but personally thinks he should get nothing for the mess he has made of the club.

It's "Livi 'til I Die" Surely not "Livi 'Til They Die"

This morning as I went out the door I lifted my Livingston scarf and placed it around my neck. It is not cold outside nor is it a football day, but I'm doing it to so that I still support Livingston. The scarf I chose was the one celebrating our winning the CIS Cup in 2004 whilst in administration (pictured).

Five years ago when the club first entered administration as will all clubs that face the uncertainty of such times the fans on the terraces started singing "Livi, til I Die", ironically this is to the tune of "I'm H.A.P.P.Y". Today may well be the final curtain, or just the end the Scottish league journey....for now. However, there is still hope, there are people interested in keeping the club going, keeping the dream alive.

As regular readers will know that one stumbling block is Angelo Massone. If he doesn't relinquish his controlling interest in the team by high noon, Livingston will be entering the spaghetti western tragic ending of liquidation.

All I can say to Angelo Massone is this morning is, "If you are man enough, sell up, walk away leave those of us who have committed heart and soul into this club a future. You've failed in this football venture, admit defeat and move on, let us start afresh, again." I just urge him to do it this morning.

Less than 24 Hours to Save Our Lions

William Hague famously on the eve of the 2001 election shouted from his soapbox there was only 24 hours to save the pound. Well 8 years later I still have it in my pocket, however this fate of Livngston FC may well be up at noon tomorrow.

The paper that as a true Liverpool fan I cannot bring myself to read has a headline flashing up in google news 'No Tears if Livi Fold'. Well I believe Kenny Black the manager of Clydebank
Airdrie United might have been the one of the mangers who knows just what a team means to the fans, in his case two sets.

Earlier this month I heard a lot of promises from Angelo Massone. With his back up against the wall I thought he may well have followed through with some of them, it appears that was not the case. He has yet to walk away from Livingston and he is the only person making the future untenable. He over the last 12 months has done something that not even Pearse Flynn managed to do and lose all respect in the local community; fans, business and the Council. Even at the end of Flynn's reign the fans knew they could get him to rescind a decision, when we sang for Mark Proctor to be kept on when it was rumoured that the best man we'd had for years was going to be let go. Flynn took the fans advise and kept the man on, unfortunately he sold the club soon after an that promise was rescinded by the Italians.

Now there is only thing we want Angelo Massone to do. There is a time frame in which he has to do it. Please sell your controlling interest to the club for the £25,000 that the Administer is asking for. At least that way you can keep one of your promises, to save Livingston Football Club. But do it before midday, don't listen to that lawyer, listen to the fans.

Saving Our Lions?

Well I've just come out of what can only be described as a heated meeting at Almondvale Stadium called by Angelo Massone. There were tantrums., there were walkouts, there was some getting at the facts and some talking about talks to get a way forward.

I Tweeted earlier that Angelo himself turned up late joking that it was like other things. I believe he genuinely wants to put that behind him and move on. Whether that is moving out or not depends on other investment in the club.

From what was outlined there is a plan on the table to pay back the outstanding rent at Premier League prices to the council over the next season and willingness to pay the newly negotiated rate in advance this month. Something that both Massone and Neil Rankine were under the impression that the council executive members who had talks with the two were going to propose instead of this court action.

Non-of the executives of the council where in attendance under legal advisement, nor were any of the councillors. However, SNP MSP Angela Constance was and after admitting that with her father spending Saturday afternoons watching the Wrestling and Speedway she was less well versed in the nuance of football and football clubs than she liked in this situation. However, I think she proved in her summing up at the end of the two hour meeting that she caught up fast with the nuance of Livi. She also found herself co-opted as Chair of a gathering of the factions.

At one point Massone's Latin temperament came to fore and The Livi for Life Supporters Trust Officers walked out en masse. Working as I do with a Portuguese colleague this was something I'm used to on a daily basis. But by walking out on a meeting that we were finally getting to the bottom of the level of debt we are in, without putting forward to the meeting any concrete proposals of their own beyond Massone must go and now I don't think the Trust have any great idea of the way forward.

Those who stayed tried to get out of Rankine what he had in mind with his new model. Community ownership was mentioned. Fans buying shares in the clubs, fans offering services to the club so that we could cope, so that we could survive. So that money could go to paying the overheads, the debts and the players. There are also assurances that HRC have agreed a repayment plan. We were getting real figures out of this meeting for the first time from a Chairman for 5 years.

I did contribute. Asking before I did so to confirm that Massone had written to the Council outlaying his proposed repayment plan. The downside of which is that the Council would get nothing and have an empty stadium on their hands. Then encouraged everyone to write to their councillors I reckon we can cover all 32 in the 9 wards if everyone does. The voice of the people, the voice of the fans has to be heard. If WLC are determined to do what is best to retain senior football in West Lothian they had better give a little extra time to get this money together.

I then gave a little personal advise to the Chairman that if he really wanted everyone on board he'd have to tether that Latin temperament just a little. He later in one of his comments referred to me as 'our friend'. Eek that wasn't were I was when I left the flat this morning.

Is there hope? Is there life in the club yet? I certainly hope so. Angela Constance may have her work cut out in the short term acting as referee but she will have my full support in trying to broker a peace.