David Martindale vows to remain at Livingston if he's wanted as 'sad day' relegation confirmed

David Martindale admits the writing has been on the wall for Livingston since the turn of the year.

The Lions' relegation was officially confirmed this afternoon after they fell to a dismal 4-1 defeat to Motherwell at Fir Park. They've been trailing their closest rivals in the division for months and the manager knows the drop has been hanging over their heads for some time. Now that it's mathematically definite, however, Martindale was left with a feeling of sadness at being unable to turn their fortunes around.

He does hope, though, that he'll be the man in charge next season tasked with taking them back into the top division. And he refused to "wallow" in the negatives and instead plan for the Championship.

"It's a sad day," he said. "I'm realistic to know that this was probably a situation that could arise. When you look at the form we've been on this year, the points total, the gap - it was always going to be difficult. If you look at today's result, even if we'd won today it probably still would have meant relegation. It has been on the horizon.

"Although we got relegated mathematically today, I think, deep down and being honest, the writing has been on the wall since the turn of the year.

"The January window was extremely difficult trying to bring in players to help us, because of the relegation battle we were in, so today is difficult but I think it is important that I focus on trying to get this club back up to the Premiership.

"I am not going to sit here and wallow in the negatives. Life is not about how many times you get put down, life is about how many times you jump up and how you react. It's another punch, it's one that has floored us, but as a group or an individual I am not going to let that stop me. I've got aspirations and I want to take this club back to the Premiership. Hopefully I am allowed to do that, but, failing that, I hope the club get back to the Premiership. For that to happen, there is a lot of work needed to be done behind the scenes."

Asked if he'd already had discussions about next term, Martindale added: "No there hasn't because I think now is the time we can speak about that as a group.

"All talk of anything has been put on the back burner until we knew where we would be playing football next season, so there hasn't been any talk of that. But I would imagine the coming weeks is the time to do that, now we know we will be playing in the Scottish Championship next season.

"I've been at the club 10 years. We've had two relegations in 10 years, we've been promoted twice, had two top six finishes, got to a cup final, missed out on the top six twice and stayed in the Premiership for the longest time in the club's history, six years.

"I think that shows how successful we have been as a group so I think it is important that, in times of adversity and negative periods, it is important that you remain pragmatic. This club has had a huge amount of success so I would hope to be allowed that opportunity but it is football, nothing surprises me."