Livingston within 'weeks' of fresh investment deal

Scottish Cup, quarter-finals: Livingston v St Johnstone

Venue: Almondvale Stadium, Livingston Date: Monday, 10 March Kick-off: 19:45 GMT

Coverage: Live on BBC Scotland and iPlayer, coverage from 19:30; live text commentary on BBC Sport online.

Livingston are close to agreeing a deal that would lead to fresh investment in the Scottish Championship club, team manager David Martindale has revealed.

Martindale, whose side face Premiership visitors St Johnstone in their Scottish Cup quarter-final on Monday, believes that court wrangles over their ownership in recent years have scared off potential investors.

But Livingston announced in December that the issues had now been resolved and Martindale has now told BBC Scotland a deal is close to bring in fresh money.

"The chairman's had a bit of interest in the club," he said after Wednesday's goalless draw at home to Raith Rovers left his side third in the second tier. "And it's not just people selling their shares to make money, because that's not going to happen.

"But there's genuine interest with people looking to come in and invest in the club. So I think the club may be in a position, hopefully over the next week to two weeks, to maybe put a wee bit more information out."

Martindale says the money still has to be found to help pay the court cases in which they were involved.

"Still got fires to fight," he said. "Still got to find money for legal bills and X, Y and Z. There needs to be investment.

"But the chairman and the chief exec are working extremely hard and they've been fairly positive with the interest they've had in potential investors."

Martindale has been Livingston manager since November 2020 but has worked with the West Lothian club since 2014, when he initially arrived as a volunteer.

When asked if new ownership could mean his departure, Martindale said it would be up to those in charge to decide if they want him to stay.

"I'm genuinely really, really excited," he added. "And, if people come in and it's time for me to go, I'll crack on. I'll be delighted at Livingstone's security future. I'll be over the moon.

"If you said to me, Davey, there's people coming in and you're not going to be here, you can be here and the people are not coming in, I would walk, I would walk tomorrow.

"I just want what's best for Livingston. If that's a future without me, I'm genuinely really happy for that."