Top flight dream for Livi new boy Jon
Scots adventure for defender
New Livingston defender Jon Guthrie says he’s looking forward to a new challenge after signing for the SPFL Premiership outfit.
The 27-year-old centre-back has spent his entire career in League One and Two south of the border with stints at Crewe Alexandra and Walsall but says the lure of a new league meant a move to West Lothian was ideal.
Speaking to the Courier, Jon said: “I wanted a new challenge and to experience something a bit different.
“I had a couple of offers down in England but the Livingston offer was an exciting one and I’m really looking forward to getting going.
“There’s some big teams in League One in England but nothing quite like the size of Celtic and Rangers and when you go into football you want to be playing teams of that stature.
“To be fair, I’m looking forward to playing all the new teams because it’s something completely different for me.”
Guthrie was a stalwart of a Walsall defence that also featured summer signing Nicky Devlin over the last two seasons and the new arrival admits his pal’s comments helped to sell him on a move to Scotland.
He said: “I’ll be honest, I didn’t really know a lot about the club before I heard about their interest.
“I spoke to Nicky a lot and he only had positive comments about the club. They’re a club that have been on the rise over the last few seasons so it’s an exciting time to be joining.
“Everybody wants to be part of a club that you think is on the up and that’s what I feel like I’m joining at Livingston. I can already see that it’s a really good club.”
He added: “I just want to get going now. I’ve been doing a lot of training on my own during the summer but you can’t really replicate what you get at a club.
“That’s the only way you get that fitness and match fitness so I’m keen to get going.”
Boss Gary Holt said the addition helps give him defensive options but said the new signing won’t be able to just walk into the team.
He said: “Jon came on our radar about two weeks ago and we didn’t think we could get him.
“We’ve had lots of good reports and seen good footage of him. He’s big and strong and left-footed. He’s coming in to a group that’s hungry and I think he’s seen that himself already in training.
“He’s got a lot of good traits but he’ll need to time to adapt and settle and we know that. It gives us competition for places.”