How Much Time is Due Time SFL? And When?

SFL President Brown McMaster made the following ridiculous statement yesterday:

"If [Livingston had] appealed in due time, we'd have put the three games off, there's no question of that. But there comes a point when we need to make a call.

"we've done our best to avoid fixture chaos. Mr McGruther was asked he (was certain he) could fulfil all 36 fixtures in the First Division next season and he said, 'No'.

" We thought the lowest risk was to have them in the Third Division."

Looking at the time table of events you can see just how ridiculous this statement was.

Up until Wednesday of this week, when the team were relegated on a vote to Division Three, Livingston were still living in the hope that the agreement made with the SFL by Neil Rankine, Gordon MacDougall and Ged Nixon (on behave of the Livi for Life Supporters Trust) would hold firm. They had presented a business plan as requested by Monday and come up with a bond of £720,000 (the equivalent to 18 aways games' receipts at the top grossing First Division club). As a result there was no financial risk for the season on that agreement, the bond was there.

A club has 10 days to appeal any decision made by the SFL. So having been told on Wednesday, the options of both the perspective owners and Mazars the administrators had to be looked into on Thursday. On that day the club intimated to the SFL that they were prepared to honour their fixture against First Division Ross County, clearly an indication of the formal announcement on Friday that they were going to appeal the decision. How much more timely could the club have been. Should we have started to appeal the desicion of the SFL in advance of the meeting on Wednesday, is that what would have please Mr McMaster.

Also why is Mr McMaster asking Mr McGruther whether he can fulfill fixtures in Division One. Only last week that question was answered by the consortium, the SFL seemed pleased with the answer, although they were going to impose a bond.

McMaster has also aluded to the case of Hamilton nine years ago where the players refused to turn out against Stenhousemuir over a dispute about unpaid wages. The team that is now in the SPL were deducted 15 points on that occassion. But McMaster said:

"The circumstances are slightly worse that they were with Hamilton. This has been a calculated decision by the people in charge, by Donald McGruther, who's the club interim manager."

About the only thing I can agree with is that there have been calculated decisions being made. Reading a lot of the comments from people associated with Airdrie who are the chief beneficiaries of Livingston's demotion they are clearly self interested rather than Scottish football interested. I've also seen comments from sources within Dundee which clearly hint at the bitterness that they still feel over Livingston surviving in the SPL when they were demoted. Of course if they hadn't hit the post in the last minute and played better football it wouldn't have come to that.

As a fan of Livingston Football Club of course I'm sad at some of the things that previous owners of the club have done. Overspending at unsustainable levels (Keane), challenging the league with court action at every turn (Flynn) and well then you have Massone, heaven knows what has gone on there. But in the interests of football and those that love football what are the other clubs doing?

Many of the fans have bought the second most expensive First Division brief and would be low on a list of creditors to get their money back should the club go up. They now are facing the most expensive seat possibly in the Third Division.

How can a club with reportedly £1.8m debts hope to come out of that black hole with Third Division football. The league says they have set the precedent with liquidation procedures over Gretna. That may be so, and what exactly happened there, did those debts get paid off, did that team survive?

If like in English football the points deduction had been the only penalty then it would be football that decided the fate. The club would have struggled to stay up this year, but at least would have had a revenue stream to eat into the debts. Sure we may have dropped down to the second for 2010-11 but we'd have had a season to prepare for that rather than 3 days to prepare for Division Three football.

The one people who have allowed due time in all of this are the SFL themselves. At the end of last season they could have taken some action to ensure that Angelo Massone could have fulfilled the fixtures for next season. They could have demanded a bond off him to cover the costs, after all it is the seeming lack of money that anyone seems to have seen from that source that is the major problem. But no they have left the management of the league down to a goal mouth scramble in the last week before the season kicks off. Then seemingly expects the club they are taking action against to make instantaneous decisions as to what to do next.

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.

Manning the Livi Life Raft

Neil Rakine having seen the passion of the Livingston fans on Saturday when they wanted to save their club and Gordon McDougall who was on holiday at the time are apparently about to launch a £500,000 rescue deal for the club.

The deal that will offer all the creditors a 50% payback on what they are owed, which would be a better payback than in the club, with limited physical assets went into liquidation.

Even then the £500,000 isn't enough to cover all the debts that have been publicly made known are £1.35m (this is less than many teams and less than the time Livingston went into Administration).

The stumbling block is the current Chairman Angelo Massone, far from being prepared to accept his losses are in part accrued by poor business practise and judgement is insisting that his investment in the club as owner is the same as that of the creditors who are owed bills by the club.

However, Rankine has held a second meeting this week with fans and MSP Angela Constance without Massone being present to try and move things forward. However, much of it will depend on the creditors being prepared to accept the deal most especially West Lothian council who's court action to pay the back debt comes to fruition next week.

If this is the case it would appear to truly be a case of all interested and concerned for the club's well-being parties getting together to prevent a repeat of the Gretna obituary last year.

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.