Intrigue on and off pitch as Livingston meet Partick Thistle
Scottish Premiership play-off semi-final second leg: Livingston v Partick Thistle (agg 2-0)Venue: Almondvale, Livingston Date: Friday, 16 May Time: 19:45 BSTCoverage: Watch on BBC Scotland & iPlayer, live text coverage on the BBC Sport website & app
As the Partick Thistle people travel east along the M8 towards Livingston on Friday afternoon, they will have plenty to ponder.Not least how they turn a threadbare squad into an irresistible force capable of dislodging the Livingston-shaped immovable object that beat them in Tuesday night's Scottish Premiership Play-off semi-final.Two-nil down is a sizeable hurdle in a second leg. Especially when you are running on fumes. But it would be silly to write Thistle off. The miracle of Somerset Park was just a week ago. Brian Graham '100 not out' and all that.The 37-year-old captain, co-interim manager and all the other job titles must have a new fire burning in his belly after missing a late chance on Tuesday at Firhill that sailed over the bar.Meanwhile, Livingston will be planning on how to put the shackles on the veteran hitman once again and ease their own passage to the final next week.
How interim are Thistle duo?
But back to the bigger picture.Beyond this semi-final second leg, there is uncertainty, for both clubs.Will Brian Graham and fellow co-manager Mark Wilson even be in charge at Thistle after Friday?What exactly must they do to lose the 'interim' tag? Have they already done enough?Thistle have a new sporting director in former Motherwell and Northern Ireland boss Ian Baraclough. The new manager or management team will report to him."It is a difficult job having to come from the playing side of it, still playing and still make big decisions," he said of Wilson and Graham when asked about the situation on Tuesday night."That is where I think Mark [Wilson] has dovetailed really well with Brian. I think they have coped with it well. I think there has been a bounce from that as well."But it is my job to assess and help the board to make the right decision come the end of the season and do it as quickly as possible so the new man has got a chance to prepare for what will be a big season next year - might still be in the Premiership."I said to the guys on day one when I first came in, 'you are in no better position. The audition is there. You are doing it live'."I have had to speak to plenty of people, will continue to do that. But, at the moment, the way they have looked after the players, looked after the staff, the whole ethos around the club it has been driven by them at the moment. "It is credit to them that they have been able to do that and still concentrate on the games."
Martindale no clearer on future
There are plenty of other names who know the division that you could throw into the mix for the Thistle job. Stuart Kettlewell, Callum Davidson, Ian Murray are all on the available list.Dougie Imrie has impressed with Greenock Morton. Would any of the current interim Rangers management team fancy it if they don't get the gig full-time at Ibrox? And what about David Martindale?Nobody was really touting his Livingston side as major promotion hopefuls when the season started, let alone potential champions.However, Martindale and Livingston were unwilling to slip quietly into the night. Instead, Livi have rallied and roared with renewed vigour.However, their manager admits himself his own future is far from clear with potential fresh investment on the horizon for the West Lothian club.In his straight talking way, Martindale is not a man who wastes time talking up trivialities."I know they're speaking to a couple of groups just now," he says."At this point, I'm out of contract at end of May, so there's nothing really progressed. We're not looking to progress. I am not looking to sign a new contract, club's not looking to talk to me about a new contract. I think, for me, I'm fairly irrelevant in all this."That's a future without me. I'd be more than happy to shake their hand if it's going to safeguard the future of the club. And then I'll go and look at what's next for me. "But somebody comes in, they want to have a conversation with me and they'd like to keep me about, I'm open to having that conversation."But, for me, I'm really just focused on, in all honesty, the next game, the next game, and the next game. And I'll maybe look at me once we come to the end of that fixture list - whatever that's going to be, one game or three games."I think I've tried to come into Livingston every day and put Livingston first and today's no different, tomorrow's no different. So I'm quite happy. Whatever the near future is for me, I'm comfortable with that."A night of intrigue awaits on the pitch, but the intrigue off it is almost as fascinating.
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