10 Things you didn't know about Livingston!

Livingston take on Hearts in the second round of the Petrofac Training Cup at the Energy Assets Arena tonight.

Manager John McGlynn used to be in charge of the Tynecastle side - but what else do you know about the West Lothian club…
 

1. Livingston joined the senior ranks 40 years ago under a different name and in a different place. East of Scotland side Ferranti Thistle were admitted to the SFL in 1974 but had to change their name as no sponsorship was allowed. They also had to find a new ground as City Park was not up to scratch and they did both by calling themselves Meadowbank Thistle after their new home of Meadowbank Stadium. Twenty one years later the club relocated to a new stadium in Livingston.

2. In their first season at Almondvale, Livingston won the Third Division title under the guidance of manager Jim Leishman. Livi won their first seven games of the season and were unbeaten in their final 15.

3. Airdrieonians manager Gary Bollan and Elgin City boss Barry Wilson were both in the starting XI when Livingston made their European debut in August 2002. Ross County captain Richard Brittain was a substitute in Liechtenstein against Vaduz in a 1-1 UEFA Cup draw where Spaniard Oscar Rubio scored the club’s first ever European goal. The second leg ended goalless and Livingston progressed.

4. Livingston were the first British club to appoint a Brazilian first-team coach when they brought in Marcio Maximo in June 2003. Maximo was a coach of the national youth sides in his home country and worked with Ronaldo and Ronaldinho before being recruited from his job as the technical director to the Grand Cayman Islands. His Scottish stint was a short one - he left just four months later and was replaced by David Hay.

5. Present-day Chairman Gordon McDougall is a two-time former world champion in Stock Car racing. McDougall was the Superstox Champion in 1976, with his title clinched in Cowdenbeath, ironically at the Central Park home of the football club where he was also on the Board. He regained his title in 1978 in Kaldenkirchen in the North Rhine area of Germany.

6. Livingston would have a formidable forward line if they had kept hold of their home-grown talent in the past few years. Graham Dorrans left for West Bromwich Albion in 2008, Robert Snodgrass joined Leeds in the same year and is now at Hull City, with Leigh Griffiths joining Dundee in 2009 before moving on to Wolves and Celtic. All three players have played for Scotland, as has midfielder Murray Davidson who switched to St Johnstone in 2009.

7. Livingston’s third place in season 2001/02 is the highest finish from a promoted side going back to the formation of the SPL in 1998.

8. Livingston’s greatest moment came when they defeated Hibernian 2-0 in the 2004 League Cup Final at Hampden. Derek Lilley and Jamie McAllister scored the goals for a club that had been plunged into the despair of administration just hours before their semi-final success over Dundee six weeks before.

9. Livingston can count several former Scotland players among their previous managers – including Ray Stewart, David Hay, Richard Gough, Paul Lambert, Paul Hegarty and John Robertson.

10. Current manager John McGlynn was on the books of Bolton Wanderers when he was a teenager but he never made a first-team appearance for the Trotters. His entire senior playing career was a three-year spell at Berwick Rangers, which ended when he was 22.