Livingston FC Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ferranti

Ferranti Amateurs were originally a works team for the Ferranti Steel Works. They changed their name to Ferranti Thistle in 1948 and worked their way up to the semi-professional East of Scotland League before, somewhat controversially, being voted into the Scottish Football League in 1974.

When a vacancy occurred in the SFL, it was thought that one of the bigger Highland League clubs such as Elgin City or Inverness Thistle would be successful, but Ferranti were elected instead, with the thought of the long road journey up North apparently influencing the votes of many SFL members.

Answer: Meadowbank Thistle

Ferranti Thistle had to change their name on being admitted to the Scottish Football League, and also needed a new ground as their home at City Park was deemed as not being up to league standards. Edinburgh Corporation stepped in and allowed them to use Meadowbank Stadium, built for the 1970 Commonwealth Games.

The club thus decided to rename themselves Meadowbank Thistle. Given that the club had little existing fan base and had to compete against existing Edinburgh giants Hibernian and Heart of Midlothian, attendances at Meadowbank were consistently very low, although the club often punched above their weight, coming close to promotion to the Premier Division in 1988.

Answer: 1995

Meadowbank Thistle changed their name to Livingston Football Club when they moved from Edinburgh to Livingston in 1995. Livingston Development Corporation, keen on having a professional football team in the town, were happy to join with the club to build a new stadium in the town, with associated community use.

Answer: Almondvale Stadium

Almondvale Stadium was (partially) built in time for Livingston FC moving to the new town in 1995, with the first game being a 1-1 draw vs East Stirlingshire. A record attendance was set for a game against Rangers in 2011, when 10,112 people were present in the now fully-built arena.

The stadium has had a number of corporate names during its existence, including the West Lothian Courier Stadium and the Tony Macaroni Arena.

Answer: Amber & Black

The original Ferranti team wore shirts of black and amber hoops before adopting amber shirts and black shorts in the late 1950s. That remained their first choce strip throughout their Meadowbank Thistle days, but, when the club moved to Livingston, they experimented a bit, with all-black strips with an amber trim making an occasional appearance, along with all-amber strips in other seasons.

The two main colours have remained unchanged at all times though.

Answer: Jim Leishman

Jim Leishman made his managerial name with Dunfermline Athletic in the 1980's. He took over at Livingston for the first time in 1995 and spent two years in charge before moving upstairs to become general manager. He returned to the coaching hot seat in 2000, where he oversaw a golden era in the club's history, before returning to Dunfermline in 2003.

Answer: Sturm Graz

Livingston's European debut saw them face FC Vaduz of Liechtenstein in the qualifying round. A 1-1 draw in the Alpine country, with Rubio scoring their historic first European goal, set them up for the home leg, which resulted in a nervy 0-0 draw, and qualification on away goals.

The next round against Sturm Graz was a much higher scoring affair, with the Austrian team winning the home leg 5-2. Back in West Lothian, Livingston managed a 4-3 victory but were eliminated by a 6-8 aggregate score.

Answer: Hibernian

Livingston eliminated Queens Park, Dundee United, Aberdeen and Dundee to reach the Hampden final of the 2003-04 Scottish League Cup. Their final opponents, Hibernian, had defeated both Celtic and Rangers on the way to the final, so probably thought it was destined to be their year, but Livingston had other ideas. Derek Lilley and Jamie McAllister scored the goals in a 2-0 victory to send the trophy back to West Lothian.

Answer: Stranraer

Livingston were drawn away to Stranraer in the first round of the 2012-13 League Cup, which on paper looked like a potential banana skin for them, but they completely dominated the Stair Park outfit. Marc McNulty grabbed a hat-trick, Jordan Morton and Iain Russell each scored a brace, and Kevin McCann scored the other goal in an amazing 8-0 rout.

Answer: Lyndon Dykes

Lyndon Dykes was born in Australia to Scottish parents and first played in Scotland with Queen of the South. Livingston bought him in 2019 for a club record fee and he would score 11 times in 28 league games before Queens Park Rangers lured him to London in 2020, for ten times the fee that Livingston had paid for him. Dykes would make his full Scotland debut that same year.