Livingston boss David Martindale says 'judge me on who I am now' as he awaits SFA approval

From prison after pleading guilty to being involved in organised crime to a university degree and now manager of Livingston, David Martindale has been on a journey of rehabilitation he believes can inspire others to turn their lives around.

The Scottish Premiership club are so happy with the four-game winning run since the 46-year-old took interim charge, they have given him the job until at least the end of the season.

However, he is comfortable in the knowledge that some might say he does not a deserve a second chance and mindful that he still has "hurdles to climb".

"I've still got to pass the fit and proper person test by the Scottish FA, but I can only go through that process and it's outwith my control," Martindale tells BBC Scotland.

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"The SFA have been fairly decent with me up until now. They have allowed me to be assistant manager. I just hope we can take it that extra step and we can paint rehabilitation in a positive light."

Martindale points out that he is one hour of coaching away from receiving the required A-licence, although to achieve that and his B certificate, he had to go through the Irish FA.

"The Irish FA, I felt, really embraced me and I feel that Ireland were a little more open-minded about accepting me because they have probably got a lot of society with criminal convictions due to the political reasons of previous years," he says.

Martindale, who was born in Glasgow's Govan district, was sent to prison for six-and-a-half years in 2006, released four years later but says his process of rehabilitation began when he spent a long, "sobering" Easter weekend after being arrested for his crimes in 2004.

"I realised how much I'd let myself down but also let my family, my parents, my partner and my son down," he says. "I was part of the wrong crowd - I was the wrong crowd.

"I grew up in Livingston, I grew up in Craigshill and it's kind of what you done. It's just how life was. I didn't realise there was another side of life - an education, university, college. I never had those opportunities.

"I paid a heavy price, but the heaviest price wasn't what I paid - it was what I did to everyone else. It was my family, it was the victims of my crimes."

From volunteer to head of football operations

Shortly after his release on bail, Martindale enrolled at Heriot-Watt University and spent two-and-a-half years studying for a construction project management degree while living with the realisation that he would eventually be sent to jail.

He prefers not to dwell on his time in Glasgow's Barlinnie Prison but says: "I showed the system respect and the system showed me respect back, so I embraced it and did everything I could to be a better person.

"Heriot-Watt were fantastic with me and allowed me back into university to finish my degree. If it wasn't for them and Livingston Football Club, I wouldn't be sitting here today."

Martindale's journey to football management is made even more unusual by his lack of senior experience as a player. Having been with Rangers and Motherwell as a youth, he played for Linlithgow Rose and East Calder before moving into coaching with another junior outfit, Broxburn United.

His association with Livingston began when he was invited to help out on a voluntary basis at training by then manager John McGlynn and assistant Mark Burchill in 2014. He made such an impression at the club as they moved from League One to the top flight that he was offered the top job himself two years ago after the departure of David Hopkin, to whom he had been assistant.

However, fearing his past might bring "embarrassment" to the club, he continued in the assistant role under former Scotland internationals Kenny Miller and Gary Holt, eventually combining it with being head of football operations, until the latter's resignation thrust Martindale into the hotseat.

Judge me on who I am now. Not who I was in 2004

Four games on and Livingston have moved up three places to seventh in the Premiership and have a League Cup semi-final to which they can look forward to after last midweek's victory over Ross County.

"I spoke to the club over the weekend and they were saying 'you have won four games, it's been brilliant, we're in a really good place, let's just try and get the announcement made and get some closure on it'," he says. "It's a nice present for me, a nice Christmas present for the family and hopefully it's a nice present for the fans - hopefully they are behind me and I think they are.

"The last four games couldn't have went any better, it's been fantastic, but that's testament to the boys."

Asked why his contract is only until the end of the season, he explains that: "If the board gave me a three-year contract and we were relegated at the end of the season, I would walk because I wouldn't have done my job."

In doing that job, Martindale believes his unique journey gives him "a different set of skills" than most managers who have graduated from the playing ranks and says "one of his best feelings" came when the SFA launched its Football Unites statement on equality and inclusivity in October.

He hopes that will include people who have followed a similar journey to his own. "Society has to be open-minded and there has to be a rehabilitation process for people to be integrated back into society or we're going to be stuck in a vicious circle," he adds.

"Judge me on who I am now. Not who I was in 2004."

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