Sun shines on Jacobs again

Oct 8 2009 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

TEEN ACE Kyle Jacobs is loving life at Livingston having bravely endured the uncertainty of the Angelo Massone era.

Jacobs was one of several first-team players forced to huddle together on the staircase in the Almondvale reception in July when former owner Massone addressed the press as the club teetered on the brink of liquidation.

The teenager admits the Italian regularly urged the players not to read the papers but with Massone refusing to fill the players in on the situation at the club it was the only way they could find out what was going on.

It was a tough time for everyone in the dressing room as they struggled to get by without any wages.

Kyle was one of four Jacobs brothers on the books at Livingston but the cloud of uncertainty over the club saw one of the siblings, Devon, quit Almondvale, although he has since returned.

But now with the club under new ownership Kyle is enjoying a new lease of life and he has broken into the first team under new boss Gary Bollan.

He made his senior debut against Elgin at home from the bench last month and a superb display at the weekend could have catapulted him into the reckoning for his first start.

Jacobs played for the Lions in a friendly against a Rangers under-19 side at Murray Park and excelled, scoring and being one of the top performers until the watchful eye of Bollan.

Now Kyle has his eye on a first-ever top-team start for the Lions but he has revealed his gratitude to Bollan for giving him his break this season.

He said: “It’s been really good this season as the boss has promoted me to the first-team squad.

“Livingston is a great club to be at as they always give young players a chance and both Gary Bollan and (youth coach) Brian Welsh have shown great faith in the young players as well.

“It helps that my brother Keaghan is already in the first team as well, as we have played together all our lives, know our games so well and complement each other.

“Hopefully I can keep progressing and earn a place in the midfield alongside him.

“We played Rangers on Friday and did well to win 3-0 and I scored the third goal.

“I felt I played quite well but it was nice to hear the boss praising me. He pulled me aside and told me he thought I’d done well so hopefully I did enough to convince him I can be part of the squad for the trip to Forfar on Saturday.

“My brother Sheldon played as well and to be honest we were a bit surprised at how easy it turned out for us as we all played really well and Rangers didn’t.”

Alongside Kyle, who is one of three triplets, on the Livingston books is elder brother Keaghan, already a first-team regular, and Sheldon.

But just this week the quartet were reunited when Devon re-signed for the club he left in the summer and Kyle admits it would be a dream come true for the four brothers to run out at Almondvale in the same side.

“Devon has also re-signed for the club now and it is good to have us all back on the books here again,” revealed Kyle.

“He left the club in the summer as he was concerned at where the club was heading under Massone but he’s back now.

“It would be brilliant to have all four of us playing in the same side with Keaghan and myself in midfield and Devon and Sheldon at full-backs one day.”

Next up for the Lions is a trip to Forfar where they hope to get their Third Division title bid back on track against the Loons and Kyle admits they have to start chalking up wins.

He added: “To put it simply we need to start winning more games if we want to win the league. We have good players here like Rafa (De Vita) who has been in brilliant form both in games and in training.”