Pre-Season Friendlies

Read it on the other Livi forum.

Hearing rumours that Declan is out on appeal and was at tonight's game at Bo'ness. Any appeal is unlikely not to be heard until next year. As I understand it Livi keen to sign him if we don't then Falkirk will sign him.

I'd def want to sign him, would move Cole into midfield to make room for him and not bother signing Faria.

Oaft, some development. Don't wanna get too excited because it could be a load of nonsense and/or he may end up at Falkirk. Looking at a possible back 4 of Millen/Sives(?) Gordon Deks Longridge, with holiday Daz sitting in front of them. That does look very promising to me...

I saw him at the Bo'ness game with his girlfriend.

Would be tremendous if he did come back, surely would have one of the best defences in the league?

Sives - Gordon - Gallagher - Longridge
Cole
Spas - Pittman - Gibbons
White - Buchanan

Shouldnt be in a relegation battle with this team?

Having spoken to Declan I can confirm he has been released from Prison and rightly so, was a harsh sentence thats for sure (but thats my own opinion)

However he 100% wants to sign for Livi again and I really hope he does sign up.

He wants all Livi fans to know he loves the club and wants to play for us.

Burchill stand by your words and give the man a contract

#BringBackDeclan

Bring the big man home, this is where he belongs.

#BringBackDeclan

Would be great to get Dec back on board

#BringBackDeclan

#BringBackDeclan

Help needed again this Saturday to remove the remaining covers.

http://livingstonfc.co.uk/pitch-covers-take-ii/

Would love to help out but the old back and shoulders are knackered, the rest of me isn't too clever either. #readyfortheknackersyard

Not sure where else to put this as it probably doesn't deserve its own thread, but we beat Bo'ness 2-1 in a friendly tonight.

Knox and Buchanan scoring for us. No idea who else played.

LiviLion wrote:Not sure where else to put this as it probably doesn't deserve its own thread, but we beat Bo'ness 2-1 in a friendly tonight.

Knox and Buchanan scoring for us. No idea who else played.

was looking for updates on Bo'ness twitter page but nothing. would imagine another friendly before the Hibs game as well to let players gel

Yep, would be a bit of a waste of a Saturday if we don't have a friendly lined up.

I had thought about going to see our three young lads at Broxburn Athletic on Saturday however, having checked their site, it doesn't look like they've been playing or even making the bench?

Seems a bit pointless loaning them out in the first place particularly when we've been unable to field the full number of subs several times this season

If they can't get a game for Broxburn what makes you think they would make the bench here?

Also suggests that Burchy was being economical with the truth when he claimed our loaned out players were doing well.

Firstly, imagine not even having a youth team. Just imagine that. Any club in the world.That is so unthinkable.

I don't blame the youth or the few youngsters we have left not being able to get a game, they have been left out to dry as much as any of us. The wee Knox boy must be wondering how long he has to hang around here, he must be looking for a legal loophole.

You're right, there should be a youth team. The fact there isn't resulted in some of the youngsters going on loan ostensibly to get game time rather than kicking their heels on the bench or worse in the stand. So the logic of loaning them out, given the circumstances, was sound. It was then up to them to put in sufficient effort and show enough ability to play for the club(s) they went to.

It would appear the plan is to bring back the youth team next season - according to reports anyway.

I think it's just the U19's we've not got, supposedly it was too easy for our players at that level so we did away with it and went into the Development league instead. Which was fair enough as it was less of a step up for the talented players like Knox coming into the 1st team after playing against grown men in the Development league.

By not registering a team in the Development league we've two major problems this season, the younger players haven't anywhere to get regular games, and fringe players, plus the ones coming back from injury have nowhere to keep/get their fitness up/back. The likes of Cole was put straight into the 1st team against Dumbarton and looked well off the pace, lacked sharpness and his passing was sloppy.

We may not be PT but we're running the club like we are.

I really don't buy the "it was too easy for them" statement, I think it was peddled out a few times by those at the club. We have had a few decent youth players in the past as we all know, but its not like every player we produce is something special. It was clearly just a money saving exercise that hasn't worked.

sunderland wrote:I really don't buy the "it was too easy for them" statement, I think it was peddled out a few times by those at the club. We have had a few decent youth players in the past as we all know, but its not like every player we produce is something special. It was clearly just a money saving exercise that hasn't worked.

Most of our U19 results would suggest that it was too easy, even Darren Jamieson was scoring most games...

Durnford wrote:I had thought about going to see our three young lads at Broxburn Athletic on Saturday however, having checked their site, it doesn't look like they've been playing or even making the bench?

Seems a bit pointless loaning them out in the first place particularly when we've been unable to field the full number of subs several times this season

I believe the reason for this is because they left Broxburn months ago, although no one at the club is willing to research this to tell us. 

Auriemma is playing with Calum Elliot's Edinburgh United and is banging in the goals every week. 
The young keeper is at Pumpherston Juniors, while Kieran Sommerville is at Arniston Rovers and Cammy Fraser at Whitehill Welfare.

Thanks for the updates Achilles.

The OS gives better updates on the fans GS team than WTF is happening around Livi, nothing even about our 1st team playing Bo'ness in a friendly let alone telling us who played, the score, the goal scorers, or a general match report. Have to get this info in forums or Callum Carson's twitter.

Achilles wrote:

Durnford wrote:I had thought about going to see our three young lads at Broxburn Athletic on Saturday however, having checked their site, it doesn't look like they've been playing or even making the bench?

Seems a bit pointless loaning them out in the first place particularly when we've been unable to field the full number of subs several times this season

I believe the reason for this is because they left Broxburn months ago, although no one at the club is willing to research this to tell us. 

Auriemma is playing with Calum Elliot's Edinburgh United and is banging in the goals every week. 
The young keeper is at Pumpherston Juniors, while Kieran Sommerville is at Arniston Rovers and Cammy Fraser at Whitehill Welfare.

Good thing the Colonel didn't turn up to Broxburn then!

At least the laddies are playing, that's the main thing at the moment. The reality of the youth situation here is somewhere between the two points which are put forward here; the U19 side was disbanded and was never replaced by a Development League side as has been done by many teams. I didn't realise how many teams were in the top Development League, but there's 17, including Falkirk, St Mirren and Dunfermline. I also didn't realise that below that, there's two regional leagues; in the East, the teams include Stenny, Cowden and East Stirlingshire.

It may have been a cost saving exercise but getting rid of the U19 team and then not entering a Development League side is absolute suicide for a club like us. The aim should be to bring through youth players and sell them on for a fee in an appropriate and professional manner, and not the way we've seen recently with Knox being hawked to all potential suitors with sporadic first-team appearances.