Livingston FC yesterday released a statement concerning an additional Green Brigade tifo at the game on Sunday. The West Lothian club reckons this wasn’t cleared by them ahead of the game. This despite the Celtic Ultras group and the Celtic SLO John Paul Taylor working with them on the other main tifo ahead of the Easter Sunday match.
READ THIS…Livingston threaten ban on banners and flags after unauthorised Green Brigade tifo
The Green Brigade responded to this by tagging Livingston FC in on this video of their Sunday pursuits.
Don’t worry, be happy @LiviFCOfficial pic.twitter.com/6BbUFWwVFQ
— North Curve Celtic (@NCCeltic) April 3, 2024
Livingston as you can read in their statement threatened to ban future flags and banners. However they did not threaten a reduction in ticket allocations and now David Martindale has explained the reason why.
Business model
The Livingston manager reveals that the club’s business model is built around the away support income. This apparently makes up roughly a third of their annual turnover. Martindale reckons no business can afford to lose so much so the away allocation will remain when Celtic come calling again.
Whether that’s next season is doubtful to say the least. Livingston are stranded at the bottom of the table and are heading for the relegation trap door. When they’ll be back is anyone’s guess and the Championship isn’t the easiest league to get out of if you’re looking at doing it by going up and not down!
Walloped 6-1 by Motherwell
Ask the likes of Dundee Utd, Hibs and even theRangers who made the play-offs in their first season after being promoted into the Championship only to get walloped 6-1 by Motherwell.
As a football man David Martindale also has another reason for wanting away fans to fill the Tony Macaroni Arena. He prefers supporters in the ground adding to the atmosphere rather than empty seats. And the Scottish Premiership would be a better overall spectacle if more clubs agreed with him on that particular point of view.
“Would I rather have a stadium full of eight thousand Old Firm (sic) fans in it? Yep, all day long. It brings its own problems but I think it brings a great atmosphere to that game of football.
“I don’t mind it if there is eight and a half thousand Celtic, eight and a half thousand (the)Rangers, four thousand Hearts, four thousand Hibs or three thousand Aberdeen,” Martindale said via the official Livingston FC website.
That is what football is
“The club’s blueprint since it has came into the Premier League has probably been based on the business model of away fans. Some folk won’t like hearing that and will ask why but at the end of the day that makes up for 33 per cent of our turnover, in terms of the away allocation.
“If you go into any business and say ‘are you alright to lose 33 per cent of your turnover?’ I think it answers itself doesn’t it?
“Even if I take the finances out of the equation, we are still trying to sell those three stands, because for me, that is what football is.”
