David Martindale defends X-rated rant but expresses disappointment at how it came to light

The West Lothian side were down 1-0 to the League Two team at the interval of their Scottish Cup tie when the Livi boss let rip.

The cinch Premiership side responded with three second-half goals to win through to the fifth round but, unbeknown to Martindale, someone had recorded his expletive-laden pep talk and it was later widely shared on social media.

Ahead of the visit of Hearts on Sunday, the Livingston manager said: "I manage in all different ways, I am not averse to giving the boys a boot up the bum when I think they need a boot up the bum.

"There are other times when you need to motivate the player in a different way and other times you need to pick the players up and give them a cuddle. I am not averse to doing all styles of management.

"It is disappointing that it has come out. It has obviously been a private conversation between me and the players and someone at Stenhousemuir has chosen to record a half-time team talk which I find very disappointing if I am honest. But am I bothered about the content of it? Not at all.

"I am not going to stick people in it. I have had stuff happen within Livingston over the years, when we were a smaller club, which I wasn't happy about. It is just disappointing. It is the modern age with social media.

"A private conversation, a private meeting because that's basically what it was, has been recorded and put on social media without my consent and without the club's consent so that's really disappointing.

"Am I bothered that it's put there in terms of the content? Not really. If Netflix or Amazon were in the changing room at half-time on Saturday that wouldn't have changed my team talk, I wouldn't have changed a single thing.

"I don't play up to the public. I do what I feel is right. I use my intuition to coach my players at half-time."

Message from the editor

Thank you for reading this article. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our sports coverage with a digital sports subscription.