Livingston 2004

For a definition of the word ‘adversity’ you may find a picture of Livingston Football Club’s crest.

Their well documented financial trouble finally demoted them to Division Three at the start of this season after the disastrous chairmanship of Angelo Massone and money troubles have cast a constant shadow over the aims and achievements of the West Lothian club.

They were placed in administration last summer prior to Massone’s welcome departure and former Cowdenbeath owner Gordon McDougall along with Neil Rankin stepped in to save the day.

Wind back the clock nearly six years and Livi fans were undergoing that same gnawing feeling of déjà vu when their team were plunged into financial crisis and even now, you can look at it and say that it’s never truly gone away.

Which makes winning the League Cup a massive achievement for them when they were crippled with debt and just six weeks after being placed in the hands of the administrators as their hopes of becoming the third force in Scottish football came to a shuddering halt.

But the 14th March 2004 is a date etched in every Livingston fan’s memory as second half goals from Derek Lilley and Jamie McAllister sealed a somewhat unlikely 2-0 win over their much-fancied opponents Hibs at Hampden.

Bear in mind this was a Hibees side that contained future Scotland internationals Gary Caldwell, Scott Brown, Derek Riordan, Gary O’Connor and Kevin Thomson as well as Stephen Dobbie, who now plies his trade with Swansea City in the Championship, so the victory looks all the more impressive in hindsight.

Davie Hay was the man who brought such memorable celebrations to the West Lothian and after winning a League Championship and a Scottish Cup with Celtic in the mid ‘80s, he now had a full set of medals for his collection as a manager.

But the start of that season saw Hay miss out on the Livi post following the departure of Jim Leishman and replaced by little known Brazilian Marcio Maximo Barcellos, reckoned to be the one Brazilian that knew nothing about football in the eyes of some Livi fans.

Nine games into the season and Maximo was gone, with then-chairman Dominic Keane turning to Hay to keep a steady hand on the club’s SPL position, which he duly did as well as take them to Hampden, but the semi-final tie with Dundee proved memorable for more than just the game itself.

It was on that day, 3rd February 2004 that the announcement came that Keane had signed the club into administration, with the Almondvale club swimming in debt of £3.5million.  It put a huge dampener on what should have been a great night as Derek Lilley’s penalty sealed a 1-0 win over Dundee to book Livi’s place at Hampden.

Suddenly the future of the Livingston FC was in heavy doubt and after seeing contemporaries Dundee and Motherwell go into administration and promptly let players and staff go, Livingston were able to keep most of their players, with the likes Stuart Lovell, Marvin Andrews and Oscar Rubio taking pay cuts.

The administrators worked with Davie Hay to preserve the squad and at times seemed very understanding to the predicament they were in, but it was inevitable most players would be gone by the season’s end so it was up to the team to make the best of things.

In the seven games between going into administration, Livingston lost four of their five league outings, but beat Spartans and drew with Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup and considering Hibs had knocked out both Rangers and Celtic on their way to the final, the Easter Road side were heavy favourites to come out as victors.  Weren’t they?

Livingston didn’t read the script though and in true cup fashion, made life difficult for their opponents as 7,000 fans travelled from West Lothian to cheer them on.

Lilley’s opener was finished well courtesy of a Lee Makel cross that found Burton O’Brien ghosting in down the inside right.  The now Falkirk man cut it back, allowing the former Dundee United player to sweep it home from eight yards on 50 minutes.

Suddenly the dream looked very much on and Hibs pushed forward to try to gain parity quickly, but within two minutes it was Hay, rather than Bobby Williamson celebrating.

David Fernandez played a wonderful through ball, ripping the Hibs defence to shreds as Jamie McAllister timed his run perfectly to slot the ball past keeper Daniel Andersson and double the Livi lead only two minutes later.

Hibs’ subs Tam McManus and Dobbie saw chances denied and it triggered another party night at Almondvale and arguably the biggest one of all as they clinched their first ever major trophy.

Never mind winning the Third Division, Second Division or Division One.  Never mind finishing third in the SPL and qualifying for the UEFA Cup, leading to a trip to Austria to play Sturm Graz.  This was a party that stuck two fingers up at their precarious financial position and gave hope the club would get out of it.

Sadly, the dark economic cloud has never gone away from Livingston and Pearse Flynn seemed to try to restore some financial backbone to no avail.  Relegation to Division One came and the club consolidated in the second tier before selling up to Angelo Massone and his consortium in the summer of 2008.

Another spell in administration again forced the beleaguered Italian to leave with Livingston’s status in the First Division taken away as they dropped into Division Three at the beginning of this season and, six years on, they are right back where they started.

The long climb back to emulate their great day at Hampden has already begun.

A Memorable, yet strange season

In a time when Livingston should have been elated at joining Scottish Football’s elite in having their name engraved on a major trophy, issues off the pitch soured the experience for players and fans alike.

Livi skipper Stuart Lovell looks back on the day at Hampden with nothing but fondness, but describes the season of 2003-2004 as the strangest he’s ever encountered.

Lovell said: “It was a huge thrill to reach and win the final, making it more satisfying given the club was put into administration literally hours before our semi-final with Dundee.

“We arrived in Edinburgh and had gone for a walk after hearing the news.  Some of us were like zombies and the buoyant mood of playing in a cup semi-final was overtaken by speculation over what would happen to us.”

Lovell, now a media pundit and newspaper columnist, revealed he took a significant wage cut as the administrator set about tightening the Almondvale purse strings and the former Reading and Hibs midfielder said he was happy to do so.

He added: “When it came to our contracts, you were allowed to say no to what the administrator proposed.  After all, it’s a legally binding contract, but they would have been within their rights to tear it up and you’d be free to go.

“Myself and a few others took significant wage cuts to keep things going until the summer and then see what happens.  I thought it was the right thing to do at the time and the others were also happy to do so as well.”

As for the day itself, Lovell admits that in spite of the financial problems and the uncertainty surrounding Livingston, he was supremely confident it was going to be him and not Hibs counterpart Gary Smith lifting the trophy.

Lovell said: “I just had a feeling it was going to go our way on the day and I don’t think I’d ever been that confident going into such a big game.

“The administration thing was a problem and Hibs brought 40,000 fans to Hampden, but I just had a gut feeling that it was going to be our day as we had a group of experienced players that weren’t going to be phased by the occasion and I was pleased that’s how it worked out.

“I’ve been back to Almondvale a few times since and I must admit, I do still get a shiver when I see the picture of me holding the cup aloft.”

If the day and period was memorable for the players, what about the fans that have endured nothing but heartache and worry since then?  Livingston’s programme editor David Stoker has seen it all and is hopeful that the dark days are now behind them. He said: “The first time we had gone into administration, there seemed to be some denial when it was reported in the Scotland on Sunday that it was happening before it actually did.

“Some pals and I were making a day of the semi-final when the news broke and it became quite surreal as we were looking forward to such a big game, but there was uncertainty over the future of the club.

“I was absolutely confident about the final itself, especially as we had beaten Hibs twice already that season, but as I look back at it now, the game wasn’t a classic in terms of what you would want from a cup final.

“A DVD came out afterwards and I watch it from time to time.  It’s not a thrilling game, but Jamie McAllister’s goal, which sealed it for us, was really bizarre.  Derek Lilley had scored a lot for us, but seeing McAllister put one in was strange.

“He wasn’t known for his goalscoring prowess as he had only scored once for us before then.  For some reason I didn’t see it at the time, but having watched it since, it was a beautiful finish.”

But since that day Livi have been synonymous with financial problems and questionable owners and nearly six years on, David’s hopeful that despite being plunged into Division Three due to the mismanagement of Angelo Massone, the club will prevail.

He added: “I have my doubts whether Massone and his consortium actually had any money to invest at all after they took over, but Gordon McDougall has come in and I’m encouraged by the fact that he ran Cowdenbeath for 20 years and there were no financial problem to speak of.

“When we entered administration again last summer, you woke up every day wondering if it was going to be the last day.  It wasn’t like that the first time around and now under the new owners, I hope all that is behind us finally.”

First published in Issue 1.11 of The 12th Man Scottish Football fanzine