Marvin Bartley Eyes Points Against Livingston at Ochilview
Marvin Bartley will walk out at Ochilview on Friday night chasing points, not closure.
The Stenhousemuir manager has not spoken to Livingston sporting director David Martindale since he resigned from the West Lothian club at the end of last season. The first reunion comes under the lights, live on BBC Scotland, with Championship points and a growing fairytale on the line.
“No, I've not seen or spoken to Davie since leaving the football club,” Bartley says. “He's busy, I'm busy so I've not spoken to Davie since leaving the football club.”
The silence tells its own story.
A bruising exit, a flying start
Back in May, Bartley and assistant Neil Hastings walked away from Livingston after being told to reapply for their own jobs. They said then they “had no option but to resign”.
It stung. He had only stepped up from the backroom team in January, taking charge at Almondvale when Martindale moved upstairs into a new role. Months later, he was out.
“At the time, I was definitely hurt in the days that followed,” the 40-year-old admits. “When the situation happened, I was really, really shocked.
“But the more people I spoke to about it – and the more people that found out about it who weren't shocked – probably made me realise that I was maybe a little bit naive and green. That's probably just me as a person. I take everything at face value.”
The rawness has faded. The edge has not.
“Right now, I have got no kind of feeling to it. It's just another chapter in my book and I'm just continuing to try to do the best I possibly can for Stenhousemuir.”
If Livingston was the painful ending, Stenhousemuir has become the unlikely plot twist.
Stenny tear up the script
Part-time, written off, tipped by many to go straight back down. Instead, Stenhousemuir look down on the rest of the Championship after a blistering opening to the season.
Unbeaten in nine games in all competitions. Three wins and a draw from their first four league fixtures. The latest statement came with a 3-1 victory over Inverness Caledonian Thistle last weekend, another result that sharpened the focus on what Bartley is building.
He inherited a squad fresh from promotion under Gary Naysmith, who left for Ayr United. The expectation outside Ochilview was survival. Inside, the targets were higher, even if Bartley refuses to dress them up.
“When I came into the job we spoke about what we hope to achieve and that's not changed,” he says. “We've got that target and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out what that target is because everyone had us as favourites to go down in this league and we understand we are only four games into it.
“We can't get carried away with thinking about promotion or play-offs or anything like that because this league is unforgiving.
“We're thinking about achieving our goals and if we do that, that's a minor miracle in itself when you look at the financial constraints we have compared to every other club in this league.”
The league form is only half the story.
Stenny have already edged past Livingston on penalties in the League Cup group stage at Ochilview, a result that drew a “lovely message” from Livi chairman Calvin Ford, who wished Bartley well. They then toppled Premiership side Motherwell. Hearts await at Ochilview next Friday in a home quarter-final that will test just how far this surge can go.
For a club of their size, this is heady territory.
Echoes of Arbroath – and a different kind of reunion
Scottish football has seen something like this before. Arbroath, another part-time outfit, tore up the odds five years ago under Dick Campbell, pushing Kilmarnock all the way in a remarkable Championship title race.
Fairytales are not a novelty in this division. They are a warning to the established order.
“Every club in the pyramid now dreams of one day being in the top flight,” Bartley says. It sounds ambitious, but not outlandish when you look at the table.
Do Stenhousemuir dare to dream of a double promotion, of swapping League 1 for the Premiership in the space of two seasons? The manager refuses to bite. The question lingers anyway.
Before any of that, there is Livingston again – this time in the league, this time with Glenn Whelan in the opposite dugout. His side have won two and lost two so far in the Championship, still finding their feet after relegation.
Form, history, emotion. It all collides at Ochilview.
Bartley insists his focus is narrow: the next game, the next point, the next performance. The cameras will be there, the narrative obvious, the handshake with Martindale uncertain.
The bigger issue is harder to ignore. If Stenhousemuir keep this up, how long before the rest of the division stops calling it a good start and starts calling it a genuine threat?
