Should go to Clarke

community pulling the same way. What has been most impressive is that the same group of players who many thought had peaked have continued the upward curve and now have a European spot in their sights. Killie are the team I’ve supported all of my life so Stevie’s impact has been all the more welcome on a personal level . Don’t forget, he arrived at a time when everything at the club looked to be on a downward spiral. The dif f icult part was sustaining the early progress he made and he has achieved that with aplomb.

As for my season, I’m just grateful to be back in a job, back working in football and trying to do the very best I can for Livingston.

I want my players to get better and I want to become a better manager. We should all be ambitious and want to go as high as we can in the game, it’s a message I want to put across as often as I can. Last weekend we drew with Celtic in Glasgow. I was asked by a reporter after the game if my team could have tried to be more expansive and played our part in trying to make the match more of a spectacle. I told him it’s not my job. My job is to do the best I can for Livingston, it ’s not to entertain 60,000 Celtic fans.

A few punters did make uncomplimentary remarks towards me when I was in the dugout but, to be fair, it was all in good humour.

As I’ve said this season, Livingston players should never apologise for the way we play, never be embarrassed by operating to our strengths and giving ourselves the best chance to get a result.

A few days later I received a letter from an 80-year-old Celtic fan. He credited my team for our resolve as well as the way we went about our business.

It was a tonic to read and I’ve written him back to say thank you and offer him two tickets for any Livingston game of his choice next season.

These moments are ones a manager appreciates.

That type of endorsement means so much more to someone who has so much to be grateful for.

It gave me a greater sense of satisfaction than any award could bring.