Livingston

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Dundee head coach Steven Pressley believes Livingston's relegation from the Premiership will make his own side's bid to secure their top-flight status harder.

The teams meet at Dens Park on Saturday and a win for Dundee would all but guarantee their Premiership survival.

Livi's relegation was confirmed last weekend when Kilmarnock beat Dundee United 3-0.

Pressley was asked if the visitors' fate already being sealed makes their own mission more difficult.

"I think harder," he said. "The biggest thing that affects performance is pressure and anxiety and Livingston are free of that, so in my opinion become a dangerous animal," he said.

"They have been a very unlucky team this year. They have performed well in many games that they haven't come away with anything.

"We have found the level of game really difficult [against Livingston]. They have been very narrow games, we have drawn two and come out winners in one where we scored pretty much in the last minute of the game.

"It is an opportunity that we don't want to give up, but we are also aware we are against a very difficult opposition."

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We asked for your thoughts on Marvin Bartley's resignation from Livingston and the appointment of Scott Arfield as interim boss.

Here's what some of you said:

Derek: Marvin did a decent job and can leave with his head held high. It's a difficult situation as I still feel David Martindale is pulling the strings somewhere and that hasn't changed. He also has to get out of the club or it'll never move forward. Arfield is a great lad and I'm sure he'll look to impress the board and hopefully finish the season on a high.

Garry: Just as fans were starting to look towards next season with a bit of positivity... Livi happens! From the outside, this is not a good look.

Malky: Unbelievable. Marv has steadied the ship, got the squad on his side and given the fans a glimmer of hope for next season, only to be stabbed in the back by we all know who.

Jo: That's terrible from Livingston, feel sorry for Bartley. However, like all business nowadays, get it in a contract or writing, not verbally, as it stands for nothing nowadays. I think Livingston didn't fancy him to get them back up, that's why they've said reapply.

Craig: Thought Marv was the right man going forward. However, the goalposts appear to have moved and he leaves at a time when players are out of contract and it leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Not sure about Arfield, thought Andrew Shinnie would have been the obvious choice. Hope Calvin Ford's meddling doesn't come back to haunt us.

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Owner Calvin Ford is determined to see Livingston bounce back to the Premiership, promising to invest and stressing his commitment to the "development and ascension" of the club.

Livingston's relegation was confirmed last weekend, with just two wins from 35 games.

Head coach Marvin Bartley resigned on Thursday, claiming those in charge had moved the goalposts on the arrangement made when he took on the job in late January.

"We will invest in a budget for next year that will allow us to be one of, if not the most financially competitive clubs in the Scottish Championship," said Ford via a statement.

"We will not stop until we accomplish all of our goals, and then we will push on to grow further."

US-based Ford became the chairman and majority stakeholder in May 2025.

He said the club was building a recruitment department that will be "one of the best in Scotland" and explained that he is developing an "executive football committee" for all significant decisions.

Scott Arfield will lead an interim management team for the three remaining games of this season.

On the search for a new head coach, Ford added: "We will work to find the proper leader who is the best fit both on the pitch and in the dressing room.

"The right leader will guide our play in an aggressive, attacking football style, and help promote us back to the Premiership where we rightly belong."

• Dundee are unbeaten in six Scottish Premiership meetings with Livingston (W4 D2) since the start of the 2023-24 season, last losing to them in the competition in May 2022 (2-1).

• Livingston have only won two of 15 top-flight trips to Dundee (D5 L8), a 1-0 victory in March 2005 and 4-0 triumph in February 2022.

• Dundee have only lost one of their past eight home league games against sides starting the day in the bottom six (W5 D2), a 3-1 defeat to Aberdeen in December.

• Livingston's 2-0 win at St Mirren was their first in 35 away games in the Scottish Premiership (D9 L25), while they last won back-to-back outings on the road in the division in January 2023.

• Since the start of 2022-23, no player has been directly involved in more Scottish Premiership goals for Livingston than Joel Nouble (15 – nine goals, six assists), who has a goal and two assists in his last four league appearances.

Marvin Bartley's short Livingston tenure has come to a messy end.

Appointed on 1 February until the end of the season, Bartley lost only four of his 11 games in charge, with a run of four successive draws - including at home to Rangers - giving fans hope a great escape was possible.

They then kept alive slender survival chances by ending their 33-game run without a victory thanks to a 2-0 victory at St Mirren.

However, the former Hibs and Bournemouth midfielder was unable to pull off a miracle as the side failed to catch Kilmarnock or St Mirren despite coming from behind to draw 2-2 with Aberdeen last Friday evening.

Livi's relegation was confirmed the next day when Killie defeated Dundee United 3-0.

Chairman Calvin Ford says the former midfielder has "done a good job" and "steadied the ship" as manager, adding he was "grateful" for what he has done.

"He did not come into an easy situation, but he's a good leader, and he's a good human being," Ford added.

Marvin Bartley has resigned as Livingston manager following their relegation from the Scottish Premiership.

Scott Arfield will take the club for the final three games of their season.

The club's relegation was confirmed at the weekend after their draw with Aberdeen on Friday evening was followed by Kilmarnock's 3-0 win over Dundee United the following afternoon.

Let us know your thoughts here on Bartley's resignation and Arfield taking interim charge.

Stuart Barrie
Fan writer

Relegation is finally confirmed. To be honest, it's been in the post since January when must-win home games against fellow strugglers Kilmarnock and St Mirren ended in draws.

Livi failed to narrow the gap and those teams got a bit of momentum, not much but enough to keep ahead of us. We, on the other hand, stuttered along - not losing too many, but not winning any either.

The post-mortem and recriminations will no doubt start now.

The biggest thing from this season is the record-breaking winless streak. A new Scottish record and a tad embarrassing too.

That said, we did get 14 draws and many games were tight. No-one really scudded us, apart from a freakish result against Aberdeen. We were competitive just not effective.

I have moaned about this since January but the recruitment wasn't good enough.

Players brought in, one for a large sum of money for us, were not better than what we had and many never got a sniff of first-team action.

We signed 20 or so players over the course of the season and how many would I take next season? One or two maybe, three at a push. We got quantity when we needed quality.

Nearly all the fans are behind Marvin Bartley staying as manager for next season.

He's done alright with a struggling team, but he will have to start winning games again back in the Championship.

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Livingston defender Ryan McGowan says Kilmarnock's victory over Dundee United last weekend was "bitterly disappointing" as their relegation from the Scottish Premiership was confirmed.

Marvin Bartley's side 10 points adrift at the bottom with only three games remaining of the season.

Livingston had kept alive their slender survival hopes when they ended their 33-game run without a victory by beating St Mirren 2-0 away last weekend.

However, McGowan says prior performances meant relegation was unavoidable.

"The situation that we found ourselves in, it has been coming for a while," McGowan said on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.

"So, yeah, it's a kick in the stomach when you're watching the game and you see that Killie scored early doors, because you always want to have that feeling of 'it just gives you another week, you get a win, you never know'.

"But it was just bitterly disappointing. And when you reflect on the whole season, there's been so many moments and so many kicks in the teeth in terms of conceding late goals, being on the end of, you know, big, big calls, which can decide games, especially against teams in and around us.

"That is not an excuse. We have not performed to the level that we want to as players and that ultimately falls on us.

"But, at the same time, it's just bitterly disappointing to get relegated and we need to dust ourselves off and get ready for next season."

Watch the Sportscene panel discuss Livingston's Scottish Premiership relegation and manager Marvin Bartley's future.

Read more: What went wrong for relegated Livingston?

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We asked for your views after Livingston's relegation to the Championship was confirmed.

Here's what some of you had to say:

Alexander: We're going down and coming straight back up again, it's just a little blip. My thoughts are we will win the Championship comfortably. Livingston's new owner will see that our team are strong enough to do it. Over the years we've been punching well above our weight. We've done exceptionally well considering our budget compared to other clubs.

Garry: It feels almost cathartic to have it confirmed now. Perhaps the sudden return came too soon for us. Return to the Championship and rebuild. I'm not sure there will be too many Livi fans overly upset, as long as no staff are affected. We go again and I, for one, am looking forward to the Championship season already.

Neil: No VAR, coverage on the lower league show and hopefully some wins. What's not to love?

Jo: Gutted Livingston are down. A tough place to go for the best of teams, never short of fight in the team. But fight only gets you so far and our squad is the weakest in top flight. Reset in championship and I'm sure we'll will be back. In fact, had they'd have finished in play-offs, I reckon they would have been safe.

Derek: We have a Championship squad playing in the Premiership and that just doesn't work. A massive rebuild is required with a good few players needing moved on. We would love to keep goalkeeper Jerome Prior, but that will be highly unlikely as I'm sure he'll move on to bigger and better things. o

Overall, a disappointing season but in another sense my young daughter got to see a lot of exciting games and good players.

David: I'm very sad, but I look forward with renewed hope. With a good board and a good manager, the rest of the league must be fearful of us next year.

It has been coming, let's face it. We have been clutching straws for a long time. No team had more draws than us this season (so far at least). The number of times we were ahead and drew or lost has been out downfall. We probably weren't as bad as our position indicates but at the end of the day, doing well in the league doesn't come from not winning in 257 days.

Despite Friday night's draw against Aberdeen, Kilmarnock's victory over Dundee United means Livingston's relegation is confirmed.

After one season back in the Scottish Premiership, Livi will be back playing Championship football again next season.

We want to know your thoughts on Livi's relegation. What have you made of this season? How do you feel about being back in the Championship?

Let us know your thoughts

Watch the goals as Livingston twice come back to draw with Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership (UK users only).

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Livingston manager Marvin Bartley: "We can be disappointed with that, especially with the second goal that we do concede. Mistakes are going to happen in football, it's about how you react. The reaction from the players was fantastic.

"We had to change the shape, we were too comfortable with three centre-halves against two centre-forwards. I'm happy to go man for man and get pressure higher up the pitch.

"I went to a back four and the three boys that came off - Scott Arfield, Danny Wilson and Stevie May - were fantastic at half-time with their teammates. Massive credit to them.

"The players have met adversity head on. They come back into the game twice, that's about character and being a team. The 10 or 11 games under me, they've been fantastic every day.

"It's become an even greater escape, we need a favour tomorrow. If it doesn't go our way, nothing will change in the next two weeks in terms of the way we train."

Bottom side Livingston could be relegated on Saturday, despite coming back twice to draw with Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership.

Read the full match report here.

Let us know your thoughts here.

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Livingston forward Jeremy Bokila has returned to training but Connor McLennan (ankle) is still out.

Aberdeen could have Emmanuel Gyamfi back from concussion while Jack Milne has shrugged off a head knock.

Nicky Devlin will return to full training next week while Kristers Tobers (knee) and Nick Suman (ankle) remain out.

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• Livingston are winless in their past eight league meetings with Aberdeen (D3 L5) since a 2-1 victory in November 2022.

• Aberdeen have kept a clean sheet in each of their past three league visits to Livingston; the Dons last kept four consecutive away league clean sheets against an opponent from August 2020 to December 2021 versus St Johnstone.

• Livingston picked up their first win in 32 league games against St Mirren last time out (D12 L19); they last won back-to-back matches in the Scottish Premiership in January 2023.

• Aberdeen have won 13 of their past 14 league matches played on a Friday; the only exception was a 3-1 defeat at home to Celtic in May 2017. Away from home, the Dons have won each of their past six Friday matches in the Scottish Premiership by an aggregate score of 15-2.

• Kevin Nisbet needs one more goal to become the first Scottish player to score 10+ league goals in back-to-back seasons for Aberdeen since Lee Miller in the 2007-08 and 2008-09 campaigns.

Stuart Barrie
Fan writer

Livingston have finally won a game. It comes as a huge relief.

Our 31-match winless league run - embarrassingly a record in the Scottish top flight - has come to an end.

We've played better in lots of games this season and had nothing to show for it. It wasn't pretty but the team dug in when they had to and played it smart to hit St Mirren on the break.

Relief was the overwhelming feeling among other Livi fans too. Some even thought this may be the start of the most unlikely comeback of all time.

Sadly, a miracle relegation escape remains highly unlikely but it was nice to get that win.

To avoid the drop we need to win all our remaining games and Killie lose all theirs. It's possible but considering we've had two wins all season it's just not going to happen.

Now the players have finally tasted victory maybe they can play with more confidence and less fear and go out all guns blazing with plenty of goals scored. It would give the fans something to really cheer and build hope for next season.