Livingston FC fall into interim administration

Jul 24 2009 By Richard Mooney

LIVINGSTON Football Club went into interim administration this morning (Friday).

Court of Session Judge Lord Glennie has appointed Donald McGruther of accountancy firm, Mazars, as the administrator of the First Division football club.

Mr McGruther will now manage the day-to-day affairs of Livi and negotiate a deal with any new prospective owners.

Livingston FC, who lease Almondvale stadium from West Lothian Council, were served two charges by sheriff officers – acting on behalf of the authority – earlier this month. The first was looking for £286,460 in stadium rent and expenses and the second sought £9045 for rates. The club owe a total of £333,801.10 to the council.

A council spokesperson said that the authority “accepts administration is the best option to start building a stable future for the club.”

West Lothian Council Leader Peter Johnson said: “Our goal remains a secure future for senior football in West Lothian, and we will offer the administrator any assistance we can to towards this goal.

“We see this as the first step to the club’s recovery and re-establishing Livingston again on a sound and sustainable financial platform.We appreciate some Livingston fans may be rightly concerned by these events.

"They should rest assured that we share their wish of a stable and successful Livingston Football Club at the heart of the local community for many years to come, and will do all we can to achieve this.”

According to a BBC report, the Scottish Football League will soon meet to discuss possible sanctions Livingston FC once they have mulled over the situation with the administrator. Demotion to the Third Division, SFL expulsion and points deduction are all potential penalties for the club who are understood to be around £1m in debt.

Former Cowdenbeath chairman Gordon McDougall and former Dumbarton owner Neil Rankine are understood to be lining up separate bids should club owner and chairman Angelo Massone step aside.

The ALBA Challenge Cup match tomorrow against Queen of the South will still go ahead tomorrow.

For more on this developing story, see this week's West Lothian Courier, out Thursday.