Marvin Bartley Reflects on Livingston Split Ahead of Key Match
Marvin Bartley has not picked up the phone. Not once.
Since walking away from Livingston at the end of last season, the Stenhousemuir manager has had no contact with Davie Martindale, the man who moved upstairs as sporting director while Bartley briefly took charge in the dugout.
On Friday night, under the BBC Scotland cameras, the pair meet again. No calls, no coffee, straight to the technical areas.
A split that still lingers
Back in May, Bartley and assistant Neil Hastings stunned Livingston by resigning after being told they would need to reapply for their own jobs. For a man who had stepped up from the backroom team in January, it cut deep.
“No, I've not seen or spoken to Davie since leaving the football club,” Bartley says. “He's busy, I'm busy so I've not spoken to Davie since leaving the football club.”
The words are calm. The history is not.
He had gone from trusted lieutenant to the man in charge at Almondvale once Martindale shifted into his new role. Then came the request to reinterview. Bartley and Hastings walked, saying they “had no option but to resign”.
He admits the aftermath hurt.
“At the time, I was definitely hurt in the days that followed,” he says. “When the situation happened, I was really, really shocked.”
That shock slowly turned into something else. Perspective, maybe.
“The more people I spoke to about it – and the more people that found out about it who weren't shocked – probably made me realise that I was maybe a little bit naive and green. That's probably just me as a person. I take everything at face value.”
Now? He insists the emotion has gone.
“Right now, I have got no kind of feeling to it. It's just another chapter in my book and I'm just continuing to try to do the best I possibly can for Stenhousemuir.”
A new life, an unbeaten start
If Livingston was the jolt, Stenhousemuir has been the reset.
The 40-year-old took over in the summer after Gary Naysmith, fresh from leading the club out of League 1, left for Ayr United. On paper, Stenny were supposed to struggle. Part-time, smaller budget, new manager. Relegation favourites.
On grass, they have done the opposite.
Nine games in all competitions. Still unbeaten. Three wins and a draw from their opening four Scottish Championship fixtures, sitting above clubs with bigger squads and deeper pockets. Their latest league outing brought a composed 3-1 victory over Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
They have punched hard in the cups too. A strong League Cup group campaign included a penalty shootout win over Livingston at Ochilview, a result that prompted a “lovely message” from Livi chairman Calvin Ford, who wished Bartley well.
Then came a statement victory over Premiership side Motherwell. Next Friday, Hearts arrive in town for a home quarter-final. For a part-time side, this is heady territory.
Livingston next, no sentiment
Before Hearts, there is Livingston again. This time in the league, this time with Glenn Whelan in the away dugout. His side have taken two wins and two defeats from their opening Championship matches, searching for consistency after relegation.
There will be an edge to it. How could there not be? But Bartley is determined to keep his eyes fixed on the bigger picture.
“Every club in the pyramid now dreams of one day being in the top flight,” he says.
He knows what people are whispering. Arbroath did it not so long ago, that extraordinary title race under Dick Campbell when the part-timers from the Angus coast pushed Kilmarnock all the way. Fairytales no longer feel impossible in this division.
Stenhousemuir, double promotion, the Premiership. The idea hangs in the air.
Bartley refuses to get carried away.
“There's still so long to go and it's a boring answer for you all, but when I came into the job we spoke about what we hope to achieve and that's not changed,” he says.
“We've got that target and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out what that target is because everyone had us as favourites to go down in this league and we understand we are only four games into it.
“We can't get carried away with thinking about promotion or play-offs or anything like that because this league is unforgiving.
“We're thinking about achieving our goals and if we do that, that's a minor miracle in itself when you look at the financial constraints we have compared to every other club in this league.”
For now, the story is simple. An unbeaten, unfancied, part-time side are staring down full-time rivals. Their manager is turning a painful chapter into fuel.
And on Friday night, in front of the cameras, Marvin Bartley walks past the Livingston bench without having said a word to Davie Martindale since he left. What happens next will say plenty.
