Livingston
The club
Livingston were founded in 1943 as Ferranti Thistle, the works team of the Edinburgh electronics firm. They were renamed Meadowbank Thistle in 1974 on admission to the Scottish Football League, and in 1995 the club relocated to the new town of Livingston in West Lothian and took its present name. Home is Almondvale Stadium, capacity 9,713, currently carrying the sponsored name the Set Fare Arena after the naming rights partner renewed on 14 July 2026. The club are the Lions and have played in amber and black since their formation.
Recent seasons
Livingston were fifth in the Premiership in 2019/20 with 39 points from the 30 games played before the season was curtailed, sixth in 2020/21 with 45 points, seventh in 2021/22 with 49, and eighth in 2022/23 with 46. The wheels came off in 2023/24: 25 points from 38 games, five wins, and relegation in twelfth. They went straight back up in 2024/25, finishing second in the Championship with 70 points from 36 games and winning the Premiership play-off, and won the Challenge Cup in the same season.
The 2025/26 Premiership campaign was among the worst in the club's history. Livingston finished twelfth and last with 21 points from 38 games: two wins, fifteen draws, twenty-one defeats, 75 goals conceded. They were the only side relegated. David Martindale stepped down as manager on 1 February 2026 to become sporting director and Marvin Bartley was promoted from assistant; Bartley left on 7 May after relegation was confirmed, with Scott Arfield taking interim charge. In the cups they went out of the League Cup in the second round, beaten 2-0 by Hibernian on 17 August, and lost a Scottish Cup fourth-round shootout to St Mirren 4-3 on 17 January after a 1-1 draw.
Honours and landmarks
The Scottish League Cup of 2003/04 is the club's one major national trophy, won 2-0 against Hibernian. They have won the Challenge Cup twice, in 2014/15 with a 4-0 win over Alloa Athletic and again in 2024/25. League titles have come at every level below the top: Division Three in 1995/96 and again in 2009/10, Division Two in 1998/99 and again in 2010/11, the First Division in 2000/01, and League One in 2016/17. The high-water mark is third place in the Scottish Premier League in 2001/02, the club's maiden top-flight season, which took them into the UEFA Cup. They were League Cup runners-up in 2020/21.
Livingston have twice entered administration, in February 2004 and again in July 2009. After the second the Scottish Football League took the unprecedented step of demoting the club to the Third Division rather than the division immediately below, which is why the ladder was climbed twice.
Record attendance at Almondvale is 9,672 against Rangers in the Premiership on 30 July 2022. Bob Morton and Gordon Turner style club career records for Livingston are not published in the sources consulted, and neither is an all-time record fee paid or received.
Notable scorelines
No all-time record win or record defeat is published for the club in the sources consulted, which is partly a function of the three separate identities. What the club itself states is that the 8-0 win over Forfar Athletic in the Premier Sports Cup at Almondvale on 21 July 2026 equalled Livingston's highest ever score in any match and was their highest ever score in a home game. Livingston led 4-0 at half-time; Tyrese Sinclair, a trialist, Robbie Muirhead and Stevie May scored before the break, and Muirhead and the trialist added second-half goals alongside Aidan Denholm and Joe Boggan. The heaviest defeat of last season was 6-2 at Aberdeen in January 2026.
Head-to-head notes
No published all-time head-to-head records were found for Livingston against any of their 2026/27 Championship opponents; the club does not carry them on its own site and neither does the SPFL, whose results pages refused automated access. What is on record from recent weeks is a goalless draw away to Stenhousemuir on 25 July 2026, decided by a shootout Stenhousemuir won, and a 1-1 home draw with Partick Thistle in the same group stage, Partick winning that shootout 3-2. Livingston and Queen's Park, the opening-day opponents, last met in the 2024/25 Championship, but no record of those meetings was established from the sources consulted.
Right now (2026/27)
Glenn Whelan was appointed head coach at the end of May 2026, the former Republic of Ireland midfielder's first full-time role in charge of a club. Whelan made more than 700 senior appearances and won 91 caps, and spent nine years at Stoke City. There was a further staff update on 15 June concerning Scott Arfield and Grant Murray.
The summer business has been modest and late. Striker Tete Yengi left permanently for Machida Zelvia of Japan on 13 July. Defender Besir Iseni arrived from KF Dukagjini and striker Joe Boggan from Blackburn Rovers, both announced on 15 July. The club announced a pre-contract agreement on 16 July for Dutch winger Bradly van Hoeven, joining from Motor Lublin of the Polish Ekstraklasa on a two-year deal. Graham Carey re-signed on a one-year deal on 24 July and midfielder Cammy MacPherson, 27, signed a one-year deal on 25 July after appearing as a trialist in the Forfar rout.
Livingston went through the Premier Sports Cup group stage without losing inside 90 minutes and still went out. They won 2-0 at Brechin City on 14 July, drew 1-1 at home with Partick Thistle and lost that shootout 3-2, beat Forfar Athletic 8-0 at home on 21 July, and drew 0-0 at Stenhousemuir on 25 July before losing another shootout. Eight points was not enough in Group E; Stenhousemuir went through.
The Championship campaign opens at home to Queen's Park on Saturday 1 August 2026, with the West Lothian Schools Pipe Band performing before kick-off.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livingston_F.C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Livingston_F.C._seasons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_Livingston_F.C._season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_Scottish_Championship https://livingstonfc.co.uk/news/ https://livingstonfc.co.uk/glenn-whelan-appointed-as-new-head-coach/ https://livingstonfc.co.uk/premier-sports-cup-group-stage-draw-2/ https://livingstonfc.co.uk/premier-sports-cup-2026-27-group-stage-fixtures-confirmed/ https://www.fchd.info/LIVINGST.HTM https://footballgroundguide.com/leagues/scottish-spl-premier-and-football-league-clubs/scottish-premier-league/livingston-almondvale-stadium.html https://theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2026/07/eight-goals-see-forfar-reeling-in-premier-sports-cup/ https://theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2026/05/whelan-takes-hot-seat-at-livingston/ https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/scottish-league-cup/brechin-city-vs-livingston_game_250458.html https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/scottish-league-cup/livingston-vs-forfar-athletic_game_251238.html
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.