Livingston boss has 'no regrets' over turning down St Johnstone gig as sides prepare to meet

Livingston boss David Martindale admits he has ‘no regrets’ over turning down the St Johnstone gig as the two sides prepare to meet this evening.

The Saints approached the Livi board seeking permission to discuss the vacancy at McDiarmid Park in October following the dismissal of Steven MacLean.

That was knocked back with the Perth outfit eventually appointing Craig Levein and while the two clubs’ fortunes have greatly differed since, Martindale insists he doesn’t consider a switch to Saints as an opportunity missed.

St Johnstone make the trip to West Lothian this evening sitting seven points ahead of the Lions, who sit at the foot of the table and enter the clash on a 10-game winless run.

Martindale said: “The club asked me to stay. I went and had a chat with John Ward (chairman) and Dave Black (CEO) and I said, ‘what do you want me to do?’ If they had said, ‘go and speak to St Johnstone’, I would have gone and spoke to St Johnstone. They said, ‘we don’t want to lose you’ and I said, ‘no bother’, and went and took training. That was it.

“There is nothing more to it. I think some people think, ‘you’re at it’, I’m not. Until the club tells me they no longer want me here, I’ll be here. I’m never walking away on a challenge and never walking away from a fight,

“Until the club comes and says, through success or failure, it’s time for you to move on I’ll be here. I don’t care who it is who comes in for me as this club helped change my life. What other club in football would have given me that opportunity?

“If I’m at Livingston in League One, the Championship, the Premiership, European football - I’ll be here as long as the club want me here.”

He added: “I’ll never have any regrets in my life. If I had a regret, I think it