Livingston - Home Of The Set Fare Arena

Livingston FC 

Home Of The Set Fare Arena

44 Alderstone Road

Livingston 

EH54 7DN

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Ground Number: 1486

Sunday 20th September 2025

Livingston - Gartcairn

SWF Premier League 2

LIVINGSTON FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club began life as Ferranti Amateurs in 1943. A works team of the Ferranti engineering company they initially played in the Edinburgh FA's Amateur Second Division. In 1948, the club became known as Ferranti Thistle and began competing in the Edinburgh and District Welfare Association, where they competed for five seasons, before moving to senior football in 1953, joining the East of Scotland League. During this period, the club won the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup in 1963 and the Scottish Qualifying Cup ten years later.

 In 1974, as a result of the demise of Third Lanark seven years earlier and the new three-tier format of the Scottish Football League, a place opened up in the second division of the competition. After beating off competition from four Highland League sides, Hawick Royal Albert and Gateshead United, Ferranti Thistle were accepted into the league by a vote of 21–16 over Inverness Thistle. The club faced several obstacles before it could join the Division, as its name did not meet the stringent SFL rules on overt team sponsorship at the time, and the City Ground was not up to standard. 

The local council offered use of Meadowbank Stadium, a modern stadium built in 1970. After an Edinburgh Evening News campaign to find a name for the club, the name Meadowbank Thistle was chosen. This was approved by the SFL in time for the new season. In 1983, the club achieved promotion to Division 1, but was relegated after two seasons. In 1987, they won promotion again, and this time they were far more successful, finishing as runners-up to Hamilton Academical. However, due to a league restructure, they were not promoted. Still a part-time club, they started to struggle and were relegated to Division 2 in 1993 and in 1995 to the newly established Division 3. After this, Chairman Bill Hunter claimed Meadowbank had run into severe financial difficulties and was facing closure as a result. In the face of significant opposition from many Meadowbank fans who objected to the dropping of the club name and the team moving from Edinburgh, Meadowbank Thistle relocated to a new stadium in the new town of Livingston and changed its name again, to Livingston Football Club.

In their first season as Livingston, they were crowned champions of Division 3 and then won Division 2 in 1999. Another promotion followed in 2001 when the club were Division 1 champions and gained promotion to the Scottish Premier League, just six seasons after the relocation to Livingston. Livingston's first SPL campaign brought more success as they finished 3rd (behind the Old Firm) and qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time. Jim Leishman's side gave a competent showing in the UEFA Cup. After disposing of FC Vaduz of Liechtenstein on the away goal rule after a 1–1 draw, they came up against SK Sturm Graz of Austria, and after a 14-goal, two-leg thriller, they missed out on the second round, going out on the wrong side of an 8–6 aggregate scoreline. Livingston just avoided relegation the following season, finishing 9th. In 2004, they won the Scottish League Cup, beating Hibs 2-0 at Hampden Park. They spent a year in administration after this, following severe financial issues and relegation in 2006. Another period of administration came in 2009 when Livingston were demoted to Division 3 after breaching insolvency rules.

An appeal was lodged and as a result the club refused to play their opening Division 3 fixture against East Stirlingshire on 8 August 2009. Because of this, the club were threatened with a points deduction, but in the end, they were given a £3,000 fine for their actions. This was later overturned on appeal, meaning that the club ultimately escaped any punishment for their boycott of the match. They won the title in their first season and then the Division 2 title in 2011. Despite lean times in the league,  Livingston won the 2015 Scottish Challenge Cup, defeating Alloa 4–0 in the final at McDiarmid Park. In 2016, they were relegated to League 1 after losing to Stranraer in a relegation playoff. They bounced back as champions the following season, winning the league by 19 points. In 2018, they were runners-up to St Mirren in the Championship. Qualifying for the Premiership play-off final, they faced Partick Thistle, who escaped automatic relegation in their final game. Despite this, Livingston won 3–1 on aggregate, 2–1 at home and 1–0 away, earning the final place in the Scottish Premiership and their first season of top-flight football since 2006, relegating Partick Thistle to the Championship in the process, ending Thistle's five-year stint in the Premiership. They were relegated back to the Championship in 2024 but bounced back straight away as runners-up to Falkirk.

Livingston Women's FC was formed in 2020, merging with local side Blackburn United. They began competing in the Scottish Women's Football Championship. They won that division in 2022 and now play in the Scottish Women's Premier League 2, which is the second tier of women's football in Scotland.

MY VISIT

This whole trip was based around a trip to Ibrox for Rangers Women against Aberdeen. All transport was booked with this in mind but then the venue was changed to the Broadwood Stadium, a little over a week before the game. It was exceptionally disappointing, and as I really wasn't looking forward to the overnight coach home, tried to see if we could get some kind of a deal to do something in the North East. It wasn't to be and so Scotland it would have to remain. Thankfully, Livingston provided an opportunity to visit an SPL stadium and although it was a bit tight for time, it was doable. There was also the chance of a Wetherspoons for lunch beforehand. I was not as enthusiastic for all this palaver, and so it wasn't until the night before the game that I finalised the plans.

From the brilliant Mean Eyed Cat, Colin and I made our way back to our room. We checked in and headed out to get a curry, in my case, Sri Lankan Chicken, Lemon Rice and a chilli Keema and cheese Naan. Balti Masters had a huge and bewildering menu, but hopefully I picked the best option. It turned out to be super tasty but the portions were huge and great value. I got my blog up at 10PM and finalised the plans for this trip whilst watching Match Of The Day. We both agreed that this was by far the best accommodation of our trip with it being spacious and well served by plugs. This was ahead of the worst accommodation of the trip, the overnight National Express home from Glasgow. 

It was a reasonable night's sleep and we were on the Metro to Newcastle and at Central Station in good time. A breakfast of cheese and onion toastie and a cake from Greggs was most welcome and it was a very scenic first leg of the journey to Carlisle. We had an hour's stop there, so happily, there were no ticket barriers to stop us from going to Wetherspoons for an hour. It was a revisit for me, but a good place for a breakfast muffin, an energy drink and a pint of Black Dragon. From there it was a busy Transpenine Express to Glasgow Central, where we chatted to ex Carlisle United keeper Tony Caig, now goalkeeper coach at Newcastle. I remembered him playing against Wycombe a few times. It was a dash across Glasgow where I got a can of Irn Bru 1901 on the way to Queen Street. It was then a shockingly poor ScotRail train with no working toilet. We only had a 55-minute journey, but it was quite a long distance. We were there around 2.10 and had a 45-minute walk to the Wetherspoons. The NewYearField was in the shopping centre, which made up the bulk of a very bland and functional town. The Haggis and cheddar cheese Panini was good with chips and a bottle of Aspalls for £10.80. It was then to the ground for the game, a good value £7 entry, but not my favourite 'music' selection pre-match.

 

Livingston were 7th with four points from four games. In their last game, they drew 1-1 with St Johnstone. Gartcairn were a place above with six points from four games. Last time out, they lost 2-0 to Queens Park. Gartcairn had the better of the game at the start, but it was Livingston who took the lead on 25 minutes. A swift move out from the back, Vivienne Strain played through, Justine Strain slotted a low shot past the keeper. The hosts had the better of the first half, but Gartcairn started the second half on top. The pressure told on 51 minutes when Sophie Timlin headed home a free kick from ten yards out. They continued to dominate and took the lead on the hour through Timlin's second, a lob over the keeper from the edge of the area. Livingston keeper Chloe Gibney was clattered in a 50/50 challenge and she was thankfully fine after a bit of treatment. Further injuries held the game up even longer, but Livingston had the chance to equalise from the spot. However, the effort was well saved. That was that for chances. We made our way back to Livingston North, arriving with 20 minutes to spare. It left us with an hour to kill in Glasgow before the grim prospect of a sold-out overnight National Express coach home.

THE GROUND

THE SET FARE ARENA is a functional stadium with three sides joined together and with filled-in corners. There is then a separate seated stand and altogether it holds 10,000. The seats have plenty of legroom and offer decent views, although the ground is looking a little tired in places. The food appears to be the standard football fare at reasonable prices. Further afield, there is a shopping outlet with a good range of places, including a Wetherspoons. There is plenty of parking at the ground, but it is 40 minutes from Livingston North, with buses available sporadically.