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ONCE UPON A TIME, there was a team of sportsmen who came from far, far away, to play their game in a new and unexplored place. At first they were very successful, and people flocked from all around to watch them swat their opponents aside. Eventually, the team began to lose their invincibility, and fewer and fewer people came to watch them play. The powers that be became worried, and feared that very soon they would have to pack up and leave the place they had entered so triumpantly only a few years before.
The name of this team was ... the England Monarchs. Or was it?
Well, that all depends. If you take far, far away to be the U.S. and call the new and unexplored place London, perhaps. However, if far, far away is Meadowbank Stadium and the new, unexplored place is Livingston, we have the story of Livingston FC, West Lothian's first and only senior football team.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the case history, let me fill you in (fnar). Meadowbank Thistle changed their name and arrived in Livingston with something of a bang in the autumn of 1995. During season 1995/1996, they set all kinds of attendance records for the Third Division and won the title in front of their home fans. The next season was also a success, with the team finishing third and just missing out on promotion from the Second Division. However, the warning signs were there - attendances had begun to drop from the levels set in the previous season.
By season 1997/1998, things were quickly worsening for Livingston. Attendances which had previously been around the 2,000 - 2,500 mark were now nearer to 1,000, and the bills began to mount up. The situation was exacerbated by problems with the playing surface at Almondvale Stadium, which meant that Saturday games had to be switched to midweek, losing even more attendance money. Rumours grew that the club was close to folding.
That brings us up to about February of this year, and a re-arranged Scottish Cup fixture against Berwick Rangers at the Almondvale. Chumbawumba's Tubthumping plays across the PA system, and the Berwick fans start singing "You get closed down". Now, I don't mind taking a slagging for the team being crap, that's got to be expected, but seeing these fans take some sort of pleasure from my team's plight surprised and dismayed me somewhat.
It's something I would have done well to remember since that night. It's no secret that the Monarchs are in danger of going out of existence, but I still found myself adding the last verse to Hey Hey It's The Monarchs and joining in with Letter From Berlin (London No More, Bristol No More ...) over the past few weeks. It just struck me last night that I was doing the very thing that I had taken umbrage at that night in February.
So, to any Monarchs fans who might be reading this, I would just like to say I'm sorry for poking fun at your team's off-the-field plight. Livingston's future has become more secure over the past few months and I hope the same happens for the Monarchs. I wish your franchise all the best in that respect. On the field, it's a completely different matter, though. I'll be slagging you off as much as the next man, and considering the next man is Doug, you can be sure I won't be letting you off the hook ...
Alan Gibson