Livingston win Turkish training camp trip as foreign friendlies come with bizarre prize but no flights

David Martindale has revealed Livingston have won accommodation for a winter training camp.

The Livi boss is taking the squad back to Turkey in mid-January after they won the Titanic Cup in a mini-tournament in Antalya during the World Cup break last year. They beat Dutch side Fortuna Sittard 3-0 in the final after easing past Latvian minnows Liepaja, winning a week-long stay at the same hotel, although they will still have to pay for flights to get there.

That was a huge boost to the West Lothian side after they were forced to forgo a pre-season trip during the summer due to cutbacks. Martindale, whose team bid to end a five-game losing run at St Mirren tomorrow, said: “We didn’t know that was the prize but the day before the semi-final we found out. The hotel said they will pay for the same number of people there last time to go back and train for a week. I tried to get it for us in July but that’s their busy period so they told us where to go!

“We had 36 last year. The hotel are delighted we beat Fortuna Sittard because they were there with about 60 players and staff!

“It will let us get away with the boys and do a bit of warm-weather training. We’ll have two friendlies when we’re over there, one team from Qatar and someone else. It all fits in nicely for us.”