Master and Commander

YOU will not be surprised to hear that Pearse Flynn approves of Vladimir Romanov, partly because the Lithuanian is drawing most of the heat that once beat down hard on the Corkman's head - "I may as well be in a monastery nowadays" - but also because he enjoys theatre. The drama of the last week? Riveting from start to finish. Romanov is a marquee act, says Flynn. He's box office. "He's great. I mean, the more Kevin Keegan moments we have up here the better."

But what about football's code? What about Brian Clough and his assertion that the knowledge of your average chairman could be written on the back of a penny stamp? What about a manager's previously divine right to name his own team and decide on his own tactics? Nonsense, says the owner of Livingston. It's a myth dreamed up by people who want us to believe that to win games you first need to have the brains to launch rockets. It's not that complicated, Flynn tells you.

"People say Romanov is picking the team. So what? There's nothing wrong with that. I'm not saying I'd do it but as the owner of the club if you see a guy who can't kick his own arse getting selected every week you have the right to act. He can do whatever the hell he likes. Football people get together and they tell you the game is a mystery that only they can understand. A load of bollocks. Honest to God, football management is 90% people skills, 5% tactics and 5% luck."

Luck? What is luck? On Boxing Day, Livingston conceded an 87th minute goal to Shunsuke Nakamura and lost 2-1 at Parkhead. A week later Richie Foran suckered them in the 90th minute when Motherwell beat them 2-1. Eleven days after that Alloa knocked them out of the Scottish Cup with another late goal in yet another 2-1 defeat. Earlier in the season they led Hibs 1-0 with seven minutes left to play. Guess what happened? Is that luck or just lack of ability?

A month ago a speculative cross from Dunfermline's Mark Burchill bounced up off the ground at Almondvale, hit Ludovic Roy in the face and went into the net. It was the only goal of a game that was to prove the last in Paul Lambert's reign as manager. He resigned straight after.

Flynn had doubts about the future that night. They came and went quickly but they were there. "I said 'OK Pearse, maybe you'd be better off at Celtic Park [where he's been a season ticket holder for the last 20 years] watching the lads win every week, as they invariably do', but I got over that."

But Livingston's fortunes have not improved since. Earlier this month, Hearts beat them in the 87th minute at Almondvale. In all, they've lost ten games this season by a single goal. Nobody will remember this when they go down. Nobody will give a damn. Flynn knows this. In fairness, he doesn't subscribe to the luck theory. In a game or two maybe. But not over the course of a season. They are where they are, he says. The table doesn't lie. As owner, he has failed.

He remains bitter about the Kachloul Affair and sees it as a part contributor to what has happened this season. It was only on July 8 that he found out for certain that Livingston were still an SPL club and this after he had gone to war with not just the beaks but with his own board too. At Almondvale there was a feeling that a softly-softly approach was the only way to go but Flynn was never going to sign up to that. He remains convinced that had he not gone to Hampden with pistols drawn then the club would have been demoted. He doesn't use it as an excuse for what he describes as the spectacular underachievement of this season but he wants to point out that almost the entire summer was spent in limbo.

"I'm a Celtic fan, right. But I have to say that Livingston avoiding relegation last season gave me the biggest high I've ever had in football, including Seville and all that. If you ask me to rate myself at the moment, I'm failing and that doesn't sit well with me. We've lost 11 matches in a row and we're playing Celtic today so we've another tough afternoon ahead of us. Some people will be delighted if we go down. The same people who described us a fairytale story a few years ago will be laughing at us. They're beating their chests over Inverness and Gretna now. Gretna seem to be the flavour of the month at the moment but they'll get it too. They'll get a kicking like us. They're being built up and sooner or later they're going to be knocked back down again.

"Maybe there's something wrong with me. Maybe I'm not wired correctly. People say I'm mad. I say 'yeah, tell me something I don't know'. But I enjoy it. I hate being in the position we're in because I hate losing. But we'll dust ourselves down and get on with it. I made a joke the other day about hiring two lawyers instead of two centre halves because the lawyers are our best chance of staying in the league. They might find some technical reason why we can't go down. Look, I'm not giving up. I've wanted to own a football club for a very long time. Livingston would not have existed without me, that's the point. Livingston's here because of me. I had to personally underwrite the wages of the players a few years ago even though I didn't personally own the club. If I wanted to walk away I've had great excuses. My tail's been between my legs quite a lot this year but I'm not going anywhere."

Flynn says he's not resigned to First Division football next season, that he still feels the team have it within them to make it "smelly" for Falkirk and Dunfermline. Four points before the split and he reckons they've a chance. A small chance but better to cling to it than spend too long staring into the abyss that awaits them if things don't improve.

He has had a look and didn't like what he saw. He laughs (gallows humour) when he hears the club's supporters saying that relegation will do them good, that it will give them a chance to regroup and come again. This is fantasy. Livingston will have to cut their cloth if/when they go down. Their owner is a rich man but he's not a fool. Throwing cash at the club is no solution. He won't get drawn into a battle of the chequebooks with the man from Gretna. At best, Livingston's playing budget will be halved. "Gretna aren't good enough to win the First Division as it stands but they'll bring in new players and they'll be strong. If you talk to John Robertson he'll tell you that the First Division is one horrible mother of a place to find yourself in. Nobody wants to be there."

Robertson is in it for the long haul and he'll need to be. The First Division is no place for the kind of rookie managers Flynn has had a fondness for in the past, Lambert being the most recent departure. Of all the bosses that have left Almondvale under his watch, you sense that Lambert's exit hurt the most. "Paul walked to save me," says Flynn. "We had a really strong relationship but the results were bad. The ball bouncing off Ludovic's face and into the net summed it up. It was a difficult Saturday, that. Not nice."

So regardless of what happens today or tomorrow, next week or next month, Flynn is staying put. "If the worst happens, will it hurt me? Yes. Will I get over it? Yes. Will we be back? Yes." And will the reduced profile of the First Division silence him anyway? It's doubtful.

"We'll see what happens. I have a vision for Livingston and I think it's achievable. I want 5,000 people at home games and a travelling support of a thousand. I want local business involved and I want it to be fun. Football fans are still treated like second class citizens. I mean, I can go and watch my son play rugby and I can have a drink. I can watch Glasgow Hawks and have a drink. You can't have a drink watching football. It's supposed to be dangerous. Let me tell you, you're in more danger of getting killed in the Almondvale shopping centre than you are at Almondvale."

That monastery he talks about shouldn't expect him any time soon.

Taken from the Scotsman