Livingston captain Liam Fox is in line to hit a historic landmark this weekend when the Lions face Queen of the South at the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium as he will become the record appearance holder for the West Lothian side.
The 27-year-old equalled former team-mate Roddy McKenzie’s total of 184 appearances in their contest at Dens Park last weekend and he will start creating history of his own from this Saturday.
Edinburgh born Fox stared his career as a youngster at Hearts in July 2001 before moving to Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3 years later for a two year spell that saw him score 5 times in just over 30 appearances for the Highlanders.
Fox first became a Livingston player in the summer of 2006 and it has been an eventful time as he said, “When I joined John Robertson was in charge and there have been a fair few changes since them and an awful lot of ups and downs.”
“After John left, Mark Proctor came in and then we had Roberto Landi who was a really colourful character. He was a decent guy and a decent coach but he did not do himself any favours in his dealings with the media. He was perhaps naïve with some of the things he said and the Champions League stuff did not really help anyone.”
After Landi, Paul Hegarty was in charge for a short period before former American goalkeeping coach John Murphy had an even shorter period as manager before stability arrived in the form of Gary Bollan.
Fox has plenty of good memories from his time despite the often turbulent days at Livingston as he said, “I was very fortunate in my first season as I was part of a really tight squad. I made great friends there with guys like James McPake, Dave McKay, Robert Snodgrass, Colin Stewart and Paul Shields, in fact we all remain friends to this day.”
“We started that season really well but then fell away but some of our play in certain games was really good.”
The following season saw new faces break into the Livingston first team with midfielder Murray Davidson and striker Leigh Griffiths emerging and the fact that the duo have moved onto SPL football is no surprise to Fox.
“Murray is a fantastic guy and has everything that a midfielder needs,” said Fox before adding, “You could tell early on that he was a player and it will not long before he gets a really big move.”
“Leigh was the original ‘Sparky’, we have another one at the club now, and he was the original off the cuff player. He came to the professional ranks later than a lot of the boys and he was incredibly raw. Some of the stuff he did was fantastic and he is a great goalscorer but he could also drive you round the bend as well.”
It is not just managers and the players that have changed with Fox adding, “I started off in the First Division and it has been First, First, Third, Second and then back to the First for this season.”
The move from the First to the Third in the summer of 2009 was for off the field financial problems with Fox saying, “Someone described it recently as ‘a summer of madness’ and that is what it was, as we did not know what was going on. I had signed a 3 year contract the year before and thought I had a bit of security but at one stage in the pre-season build up Chris Innes, Roddy and myself were told to go away for a coffee rather than come in for training as it was not definite that there would be a club to play for.”
“Thankfully the guys that are in charge now know how to run a football club and we have had a stable time of things since then.”
The price that was paid for entering Administration under the chairmanship of Angelo Massone was a high one as the Lions were moved into the Third Division just days before the season started.
It took a bit of getting used to with Fox saying, “I had been looking forward to putting all the uncertainties of the past few months behind us and playing in the First Division and we ended up playing in the Third. It was a culture shock and we were the only full time team against 9 part time sides so the pressure was on us straight away to win the league.”
“We were immediately installed as favourites as we were the following year when we were in the Second Division and we had to handle that. It was a punishment that had to be served and we served it well, although there were times when we really had to dig out results.”
Fox can now look back fondly on the experiences of the past two seasons saying, “I have 2 League winning medals that I might not have had so I have to be pleased with that. The team we have now was formed back in the Third Division with guys like Paul Watson and Bobby Barr coming in and the new ‘Sparky’ Marc McNulty emerging from the youth team.”
“The spell we had in the Third built a team spirit which was best I had seen since that first season. The experiences we had that year were good and we had a special talent in Raffaele de Vita but we had to work hard to get out of that Division, no-one handed it over to us.”
Fox praised the role that the Livingston management team have had as the team bounced back up the way saying, “Gary and his assistant Scott Paterson treated us right, and still do now, and that helped build the spirit I spoke about.”
This season’s First Division campaign sees Livingston sit in seventh place at the moment with Fox not looking for a hat-trick of medals for this season at least as he said, “We have done okay so far. I don’t think we were looking to win it and after our recent history it is more about consolidation. We have had highs and lows but the aim is to get results that see us stay in the Division. Eighth place would probably be okay for this season.”
Fox was asked to pick out the highest high and the lowest low from his roller-coaster 184 games and he said, “The biggest disappointment in a game came against Partick Thistle in a Scottish Cup replay in February 2008. We took the lead through a Graham Dorrans goal but Thistle equalised. We had chances to win it and didn’t take them. It went to penalties and they won.”
“The prize for winning was a trip to Ibrox to face Rangers and it was really disappointing to lose that game.”
As for the high Fox said, “Any victory is a highlight but the games we won the league against Berwick and Stenhousemuir were great days.”
“Another high is that I have been really fortunate to play here as I have made a number of great friends, lifelong friends.”
After taking his record from him Fox expects to hear from former team-mate McKenzie as he explained, “I have not spoken to him for a wee while. The last time we spoke his wee boy had just been born but I am sure he will be in touch when he finds out that I have overtaken him.”
Fox however still has some way to go before he catches up with Walter Boyd who played more than 450 times during a 13 year spell when the club was in its former guise of Meadowbank Thistle and he said, “I will give it my best shot to catch Walter’s record but I am not sure I will get there.”
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