Livingston paying price for struggling to build a sizeable fanbase

Published on Thursday 2 July 2009 10:09

A TOWN or city's football team usually becomes a major focal point for its residents as a social and sporting outlet bringing locals together and benefiting the club into the bargain.

Manchester United fans are dotted all over Britain, even the world, but you won't find many of them in the likes of partisan cities such as Newcastle or Liverpool.

In its infant history as far as football clubs are concerned, Livingston has struggled in recent times to create a substantial and constant fan base that could generate a streaming income to keep the wolf from the door.

Since taking Meadowbank Thistle's place in the Scottish League 14 years ago the club has attracted a string of high-profile investors who have failed to cash in on the "potential" the club said it had to establish itself in the West Lothian community and tap into local resources.

The club marketed itself as a "family club" at the start hoping for kids to go along and remain staunch supporters in their adulthood spending their wages on season tickets.

But it was forced into administration two months after its greatest success – the CIS Cup fina win over Hibs in 2004. The club also made it to the dizzy heights of the SPL within six years of forming and has competed in the Uefa Cup.

So why does it continue to struggle? The thoughts of one former fan, 15-year-old Greg McIntosh, hint that its fall from the SPL could be one reason.

He said: "I used to go when I was younger but they sold all their good players and I'm not really bothered about the club anymore."

Another explanation could be the dreaded stranglehold the Old Firm has on Scottish football.

Livingston is one of the "new towns" built and designed to cope with the Glasgow overspill and therefore has a large number of residents who support Celtic or Rangers.

Supporters buses from both sides of the divide drive out of Livingston on match days to go to Ibrox or Parkhead.

There's no doubt that Livingston supporters are as passionate about their club as any other, but the numbers through the turnstiles every week are simply not enough to keep it afloat.

John McCarthy, although a die-hard Celtic fan, used to tread the Almondvale terraces sporadically because it was his local club. He's also concerned for the club's future as his ten-year-old son Cameron has just signed for one of its youth teams.

He said: "The club is a good thing for the town but it's not getting run right. It used to have the Nitespot (nightclub) but they closed it down. It was always busy so it must have lost a lot of income through that.

"There are good young players coming through, but I think the bigger clubs should use it as a feeder club to generate money.

"A lot of people from here go to the Celtic and Rangers games like me, but it used to have quite a good support. How it's came to this I don't know."

Another disillusioned fan, Robert McConnachie, added: "I'm not a regular now but I used to be a season ticket holder.

"Ever since the council got involved there's been nothing but problems and it's went downhill. There was never an issue in the old days and there used to be 30 buses down there every single week."

A return to the "good old days" is a distant dream for Massone who needs to somehow reach out to the fans to gain their trust and get them back through the gates if it is to survive.