David Martindale dismisses links with Hibs job and has sympathy for Shaun Maloney

Livingston manager David Martindale has dismissed any suggestion that he might be the next Hibs manager, and expressed his bemusement at the Edinburgh club sacking Shaun Maloney.

Hibs dismissed Maloney on Tuesday after the former Scotland international had only been in charge for 19 games, with owner Ron Gordon saying that he had seen no signs of improvement after appointing the former Belgium assistant to his first managerial role.

The Easter Road club are now looking to appoint a replacement this summer and Martindale’s record at Livingston has seen him near the top of the bookmaker’s odds.

The Livingston boss said that the job would be attractive to some managers but that he was happy where he is.

“I think Hibs is a huge club so anybody is going to jump at the chance,” he said. “Anybody is going to take that opportunity.

“I’m at Livingston. I’ve spoken about this before. Until John Ward and Robert Wilson chap my door and say ‘Davie, your time’s up’ I’m going to be at Livingston.

“But if a club the size of Hibs comes calling… I’m in kind of a unique situation because I’ve been at Livingston for eight years. So it’s a wee bit different for me but if I look at other managers that are maybe out of work or maybe not been in the job as long then Hibs is a huge club.”

Regardless of his own attitude to any potential move, he said he didn’t envisage it being an issue.

“Hibs aren’t coming for Davie Martindale,” he said. “I’m quite happy where I am.

“I’ll be at Livingston until the chief executive says [otherwise]. It’ll no be Davie Martindale that makes the decision to leave Livingston. It would be Robert Wilson and John Ward if they think it’s my time to move on or move sideways.”

Martindale did express sympathy for Maloney, insisting that the manager hadn’t had a fair crack of the whip in his first job as boss.

“I’ll speak as a manager, not on Shaun Maloney or Hibs,” he said. “But I’d be devastated if it happened to myself, to be honest. I think you need, I’ve always said you need two or three windows.

“Yeah, he can include the January window. I think anybody in football knows it’s probably the most difficult window in football, and it’s debatable if you can actually get your squad stronger.

“You can probably add quantity to the squad in a January window you but it’s difficult to add quality. So, me personally, I’d be devastated if that happened to myself. I don’t think it should be a reflection on Sean to be honest. It’s football and it’s the way football’s going.”