UGLY TRUTH
Mart: I didn’t mean any disrespect but Derek staying would’ve suited
DAVIE MARTINDALE insists he’s being truthful and not disrespectful after admitting he was “gutted” to see Derek adams leave ross County.
The Livingston boss made the comment in a TV interview on Tuesday just hours after Adams quit the Staggies. And Martindale reckons that decision to stand down is a blow to the Lions in the battle to avoid the drop after claiming both the dingwall boss and players were unhappy. County are the closest team to Premiership basement side Livingston but still have a six-point advantage. Martindale is eying a place in the Scottish Cup last eight today when he takes his team to Firhill but tried to clear up his remark about Adams. He said: “I’m not going to sit there in front of the TV and say lies. It’s common knowledge derek was unhappy at ross County, you only have to look at his comments about Scottish football.
“Scottish football is a goldfish bowl, the players were unhappy. You had unhappy players and an unhappy manager and I would rather have that situation as negative as possible, of course I would.
“I probably did come across as a bit disrespectful to derek, I didn’t mean it in a disrespectful manner to derek.
“Put it into context. Would I rather that environment remained the same? Of course.
“Fair play to derek, he’s had enough, he’s resigned. Would it be better for ourselves if he remained in the building, a manager that wasn’t happy being there and players that were not overly keen on the manager due to previous comments? Of course.
“But really I just need to focus on Livingston rather than looking at ross County.”
Livingston’s only win in their last 18 games came in the last round of the Cup against Raith Rovers.
And Martindale admits both he and his players desperately need a pick-me-up after their latest defeat at kilmarnock.
He added: “We’ve got to try and win, it would be nice to get a quarter-final. We’re bottom of the league and we need to find as many positives as we can.”