Premiership survival would be 'biggest achievement' for Livingston boss

Livingston boss David Martindale insists securing Premiership survival would be the ‘biggest achievement’ of his decade at the club.

The Lions head to Celtic Park this afternoon sitting five points adrift at the foot of the table and the gaffer is adamant that an unprecedented seventh season at the top table of Scottish football would top anything else he’s achieved at the Tony Macaroni Arena.

Martindale first joined the club as a coach in 2014 and it’s been a near-constant upwards trajectory since with back-to-back promotions, consecutive top six finishes and a League Cup final.

But he was vocal prior to this season that it would be a challenging one and that’s proving to be the case with just two wins from their opening 17 games with budget cuts and a lack of investment not helping.

Martindale said: “It would be the biggest achievement by the staff and the players at this club since we came into this league.

“I would actually include winning League One, winning promotion to the Premiership, getting to a cup final and two top six finishes. I would honestly put it down as our biggest sporting achievement to date if we can keep this club in the Premiership because I know how difficult it has been.

“It’s been a perfect storm over the past two or three years. There’s been court cases, budget cuts, the cost of living has gone through the roof in terms of energy, gas, stadium rent, then there’s VAR.

“The outgoings have been so high and there’s been no investment in the club for the last three or four years, which has made it very difficult.

“You can’t always pull a rabbit out of a hat. With the finances available this season, it’s made recruitment very difficult but I will caveat that with I do believe that with what we have