Livingston's Sean Kelly backs David Martindale to take team back to Premiership

Sean Kelly reckons David Martindale is the man to lead Livingston back to the Premiership after their relegation.

The Lions defender couldn’t help the West Lothian side beat the drop this season and their fate was finally sealed on Saturday when Motherwell - captained by Sean’s brother and former Lions goalkeeper Liam Kelly - inflicted a 4-1 defeat at Fir Park.

Championship football awaits next season after Livi’s six-year stint in the Premiership and, for what it’s worth, Kelly feels the club should stick by a man who has been part of their promotion success in the past.

Martindale was assistant to David Hopkin when the club climbed from League One to the Premiership between 2016 and 2018, and asked if Martindale should remain at the helm, Kelly said: “I think that’s a decision for the manager and the club. My opinion is irrelevant, but the body of work he’s done at the club speaks for itself.

“He’s done it before, brought the club up, so I don’t see any reason why he couldn’t do it again. It’s just disappointing the way the club has gone this season. From a personal point of view I’ve obviously seen it, coming up from League 1 with my brother playing there and being part of it the last few seasons.

“People think the club has been doing really well and overachieving based on the budget. But within the walls we didn’t think that, we thought we could go again because you had the personnel in the building regardless of the budget.

“But ultimately, we’ve fallen short and there’s been a lot of different factors. We’ve just not been good enough, I don’t think. You can cling on to whatever you want to - defensive play, attacking play, individual errors - but over the course of the season, just ultimately we’ve not been good