THE conversation that David Martindale will have with the Scottish FA will determine his future. The one he had with his daughter cleared up his past.

The story of Martindale’s misdemeanours, and that is putting it lightly, is well known in our game but those that run it have still to determine whether he is fit and proper to hold the position of Livingston manager.

In 2006, Martindale was jailed for six-and-a-half years for drug and money-laundering offences after being caught in an undercover police operation that seized a cocaine haul with a street value of around £325,000. He would serve four years behind bars following his conviction.

Today, he will lead his side out at Hampden as Livingston bid for a place in the Betfred Cup final. If medals were won on the strength of the story, Martindale would be destined for the silverware.

 

 

If he is to remain in his post at Livingston, he requires approval from a three-man SFA panel but the latest attempt to stage the hearing clashed with his preparations for the Premiership fixture against Celtic on Wednesday evening.

Martindale has never dodged questions about his past as he speaks openly and honestly about his mistakes and his rehabilitation, whilst thanking his club for giving him the opportunity to rise in prominence in the game. There has always been one conversation he and wife Martha knew they would have to have at home, though.

"Personally, I am quite relaxed about it,” Martindale said when asked about the Hampden hearing this week. “But my wife and my wee one keeps saying to me 'dad, dad, what's happening?

Glasgow Times: David MartindaleDavid Martindale

"Georgia is eight-years-old, so when all this came out I had to sit her down because she's using Google, she's got her iPad and I had to explain to her what had happened previously before she was born, so she now knows all about my past and this was only over the last three or four weeks.

“So she's now saying 'dad, dad, dad, what's happening, are you the manager yet?' and I am saying, 'I don't know darling, I need to go to a meeting.

"My wife worries about stuff like that but personally I am relaxed about it. I'm a big believer in what will be, will be and I can't physically do anything to change that decision. I try not to worry about things that are outwith my control.”

Martindale’s fate today – like it was when sentencing was passed all those years ago – is not in his own hands. That hasn’t always been the case, of course, and the choices and mistakes he made will forever be on his record and his conscience.

 

 

The 46-year-old is again awaiting a judgement to be passed on him. If he can guide Livingston into a national final, it would certainly do his chances of success no harm at all.

“I am saying it was brought forward, but I don’t think it was brought forward by years,” Martindale said. “She incredibly intelligent, she is eight-years-old and probably had an iPad since she was two. I don’t think we had seen a computer when we were eight!

“In the past, she has come in and said ‘I Googled you, dad’ and I was like ‘what?’, but she was Googling ‘Livingston Football Club’ and stuff like that and seen the goals. That conversation probably wasn’t too far away but it got accelerated because of the amount of Press around it.

Glasgow Times: Marvin Bartley and David MartindaleMarvin Bartley and David Martindale

“I thought it would be [difficult], but it wasn’t. She is really inquisitive but she never really asked and dug into it. I thought maybe when I left the room she would say to Martha about it.

“It is weird, she has never really elaborated on it. She just said ‘thanks for telling me’ and ‘was it scary, dad?’ Stuff like that. It wasn’t anything about the crime or anything and she has never really elaborated on it, which is really surprising because she is very inquisitive, or really nosy!”

It was while he was awaiting trial that Martindale began his own process of rehabilitation and he would enrol at Heriot-Watt University to study construction and project management.

Football has become the path that he has ultimately gone down and, after spells as a coach and assistant manager, he was promoted to the main role at the Tony Macaroni Arena when Gary Holt stepped down as boss in November.

His record in the dugout - which sees Livingston now unbeaten in ten games after back-to-back draws with Celtic - speaks for itself and the values he now lives by are ones he is determined to instil in every member of his Lions squad.

“Miles off it,” Martindale said when asked if he ever thought he would get this far as a coach. “I thought I would finish my degree and go into construction and this kind of fell on my lap.

“I have always been involved in football, whether it is at Amateur or Junior level, and always done quite well. Even when I came in here initially, there was no great plan and I was just happy to be involved.

“I have always said, and I say to the players to this day, don’t try to work to get somewhere. Don’t come in here wishing you were playing for Celtic because all you will do is think about playing for Celtic. Come in, work hard, train hard every day and let’s see where it takes you.

“You get a lot of players that come in, and I do get that Livingston is a stepping stone, that have Livingston as their stepping stone from day one and they are in trouble. Come in, get your head down and work hard and see where it takes you. If you do your job properly, you never know what can happen.”

For those that belief in second chances, Martindale is the embodiment of the theory but he and his players will only get one crack at the Betfred Cup this season.

Glasgow Times: David MartindaleDavid Martindale

His squad speak fondly of his tactical awareness and his man-management approach and he remains eager and willing to help those who made the same mistakes that he did in life.

“That has probably been one of the disappointing aspects of my time at Livingston in that everything was always the negative, the negative, the negative,” Martindale said. “People never picked up on it and I have never been approached by anyone saying ‘do you want to speak on behalf of this group?’ or to speak about my story to help someone.

 

 

“I have never really had the positive side of it until I became the manager, or the caretaker manager. Since becoming the manager I have had a lot of letters from people and it is really humbling how much it has touched people’s lives or there are similarities between their life and mine.

“It is humbling that people have looked at the story and it has given them a wee bit of hope. That is a positive from a negative.”