Who Will Be Our New Manager?

So what are the thoughts on a replacement for Hoppy, as has been the tradition at Livi, will David Martindale take over, or will we look for a manager from the list of usual suspects, and Martindale continuing as an assistant, I suspect the latter will be the case, or at least an experienced guy coming in to be Martindale's assistant like Archie Knox did with Gough.

Wonder if Duffy would be happy doing that, I don't really want to change our playing style, the way we are set up should make us hard to beat in the Premiership too, and I think we'd do better than St Mirren.

In no particular order but just as their names come to mind...and some are more realistic than others

Jim Duffy
Jim McIntyre
Robbie Neilson
Zinedine Zidane (I have it on good authority he likes amber & black - yeah I made that up)
Paul Lambert (to rectify his wrongs)
Gordon Strachan
Mark McGhee
Ally McCoist
John Hartson
David Martindale
Jimmy Permatan Calderwood

Where's John Hughes, he puts himself up for every other job when it comes up?

Sorry, I thought we were looking for a football manager...

John Ward saying we want someone with some experience makes me think we're not just giving it to Martindale/Hartson. Also said they need to be able to adapt to the set up we have here rather than changing it all with new staff etc.

Tbh we're probably looking at roughly the same list as St Mirren are, and they'll probably have first pick.

From Bertie's list:
Jim Duffy - no thank you.
Jim McIntyre - wouldn't be too against him.
Robbie Neilson - would be happy with him, think St Mirren will get him but if they choose someone else and he's willing to take it we should do what we can.
Zinedine Zidane - not sure he could handle the step up.
Paul Lambert - nope.
Gordon Strachan - he's probably done as far as management is concerned.
Ally McCoist - considering the mess he made at sevco with a massive budget, I dread to think what he'd do with a small one.
John Hartson - don't think he'd even want it tbh, pretty sure he only coaches with us a few days a week because thats all he wants.
David Martindale - wouldn't be too against it, with a Burchill style bringing someone in to be his assistant.
Jimmy Calderwood - I completely forgot he existed.

Another couple of (probably unrealistic) names:

Paul Tisdale - has worked wonders with Exeter on (in English football terms) next to no money. Pretty sure he's going to MK Dons and other English clubs will want him but would happy for us to throw ourselves at him.
Guti - Real Madrid youth coach, chucked his name in the ring for St Mirren, wonder if he'll apply for us, might have the same effect Zidane did after his lower Madrid roles...
Oran Kearney - has done really well with Coleraine, not sure what it'd take to pry him away.

Others who have been linked with the St Mirren job are Gary Caldwell and Allan Stubbs. Not sure how I'd feel about either of them tbh. Think Hopkin has made me extra picky

Martindale cant be manager with his history. I don't mind him continuing to be involved in a coaching role but cant be the club figurehead.

We've started to get the crowds back; why start to undo all that?

Hartson in the papers saying he'd be up for it, i'd take a punt on him, certainly no worse than most on that list, and at least he knows how things are done at Livi, so he'd fit in no probs with how Hoppy had set us up. Seems Ward wants things to stay as they are too, and whoever comes in needs to adapt to how we run thing/play rather than the other way around.

Kevin Thomson is another name being put forward, he's a youth coach for Sevco so maybe that would swing it for us getting Hardie back on loan.

Assuming we can afford Hartson the I agree he's probably the preferred solution.

Knows the club; the personnel and the training routine. Is a tremendously respected member of the footballing fraternity with plenty of contact.

Interesting piece (also mentions the all weather pitch is well on the way):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44335173

A good read on McPake. www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2018/06/01/dundee-coach-james-mcpake-distances-himself-from-livingston-post-but-hails-the-lions-return-to-the-premiership/

Didn't realise he was working towards a coaching career. Good luck to him.

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/2734352/rangers-lee-mcculloch-target-livingston-replacement-david-hopkin/

I hope this is the usual Sun garbage.

The Sun and Daily Record only know ex-OF players, hence us having Ally McCoist, Kenny Miller, Henrik Larsson, and now Lee McCulloch linked. Most likely means nothing.

McCulloch's prob not seen us play but has heard all the garbage about us being a big strong physical team (only actually got 4 big players in our team starting a game) and thought, 'that's just my kind of team.' But I imagine it is also just lazy journalism, snatching old firm names out of the air.

The 3 that interest me most are;

Jim Duffy-not everyone's cup of tea so it would split the camp a bit, but he's got plenty of experience and he wouldn't rock the boat, imo he'd be steady and decent enough to give us a chance of staying up.

John Hartson-No managerial experience so a bit of an unknown quantity, but has coached the players so they all know him and respect him, and with Martindale helping him he may well continue to do what Hoppy has done and keep us playing the exact same way.

Gregg Ryder-He's been mentioned on P&B and is an intriguing choice, has had success on a limited budget with a team in Iceland and seems a perfect fit for us, young manager who has cut his teeth in another Country with a good bit of success.

In his first season he took Prottur to promotion with one of the smallest budgets in the league then finishing above the relegation spots in the following season. The season afterwards he guided them to a third place finish to be promoted again.

Having not commented on this thread as yet i thought was about time i did so here goes.Have seen all these names being banded about and am surprised that not one bookie or supporter has mentioned the name of one Garry Bollan.As ridicolous as it may sound he also knows the club and has also won us back to back promotions in his tenure here.He was harshly treated by previous incumbants at the club as we all know but we now have decent people he could deal with.It would be great if he felt that he had unfinished buisness here and i reckon him and Martindale would get on like a house on fire,reckon the players would respect him as well.Of course this is all conjecture and i just thought id throw in my two pennith worth.Please be kind as its only my opinion which im entitled to,no doubt you will all have yours which of course i will respect.

Haven’t heard of Ryder. Sounds intriguing. Agree with LF’s assessment of Duffy & Hartson

Bollan; based on his previous spell here I wouldn’t be against it but I’m not sure he’d come back & based on his record after Livi - I wouldn’t expect him to be on the short list.

Hartson def interested in the job and has put himself forward. www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/celtic/16268995.John_Hartson_confirms_he_wants_the_Livingston_job/

According to a Livi fan on P&B Ryder has been in touch with the club too.

According to Callum Carson's sources Hartson wont be our new manager.

With Liam Kelly rumoured to be joining us it would be a bolt out of the sky if Alexander was made player/manager, just a thought.

Supposedly Kenny Miller and Jim Duffy are in the shortlist.

Liviforever wrote:According to Callum Carson's sources Hartson wont be our new manager.

With Liam Kelly rumoured to be joining us it would be a bolt out of the sky if Alexander was made player/manager, just a thought.

Supposedly Kenny Miller and Jim Duffy are in the shortlist.

Liam Kelly should be okay as backup but don't see him as sufficient quality for the no 1 slot.

He was decent enough for us when he was here but prone to the odd blunder (chucking the ball into his own net when it was hit straight at him from distance), was only a youngter though so hopefully he's learnt a bit more by now. A season under Alexander's coaching as our back up keeper should also bring him on a good bit, then take over the following season.

Liviforever wrote:He was decent enough for us when he was here but prone to the odd blunder (chucking the ball into his own net when it was hit straight at him from distance), was only a youngter though so hopefully he's learnt a bit more by now. A season under Alexander's coaching as our back up keeper should also bring him on a good bit, then take over the following season.

He was okay; reasonable in league one but still a lot better than the alternative. Don't recall him being particularly effective in the championship. However, as you say, he's still young for a goalkeeper.

He doesn't command his box or instruct the defenders like Alexander. Also tended to hide at corners and of course was prone to some nightmare blunders a la East Fife. Not good enough for the SPL. Anyone is better than Maley of course but I think there is better out there. And Alexander hasn't signed yet.

orco wrote:He doesn't command his box or instruct the defenders like Alexander. Also tended to hide at corners and of course was prone to some nightmare blunders a la East Fife. Not good enough for the SPL. Anyone is better than Maley of course but I think there is better out there. And Alexander hasn't signed yet.

All things that good coaching could fix...hopefully if/when Neil signs back up he's able to bring out the best in Liam as there looks to be a good keeper in there.

Aye that was a couple of seasons back, he was really young and esp so for a goalie. I remember Falkirk fans writing Jordan White off at that age when he was with them and saying he was hopeless when we signed him, good coaching from Alexander will really help him too. Speaking of which, big Shags has signed for ICT, glad we wont be playing against them, hate playing our ex players,esp when I liked them.

Got a feeling Duffy is going to be a strong contender now, wouldn't mind if we did signed him but a few of our fans have shown displeasure towards us doing so, I think he'd do a decent job for us though. Nothing spectacular, just keep us playing the same way we've been doing and getting enough results to stay up, which would be great imo.

The Ryder fellow interests me too though, any of those two would do. Not fussed about us looking at Miller or Thomson, if we're going for rookies i'd rather have Hartson.

Who is this Thompson you refer to?