Premiership rival bags 'Black Friday deal' off former Hibs boss as ex Easter Road gaffer helps unlock new tool
The Livingston boss got himself a bargain on a new bit of kit from an unlikely source.
David Martindale has reflected on a story which saw him buy some technology on the cheap from Nick Montgomery.
The Livingston manager asked for a revolutionary bit of kit off Montgomery after Ange Postecoglou was sacked from Nottingham Forest. The former Celtic boss was in the hot-seat at the City Ground for just 39 days after he was sacked by Chairman Evangelos Marinakis.
Before his dismissal, ‘Big Ange’ had invested in a new piece of software, however wasn’t able to utilise it during his short tenure, giving Martindale an idea. The Livi gaffer phoned up former Hibs boss, Montgomery, who was Postecoglou’s assistant, asking if he could buy the Smart TV off them.
After consulting the club’s majority shareholder Calvin Ford, Martindale was given the green light to snap up the new equipment for £2,000. He reckons it could be the best piece of business The Lions are involved in all year.
The Livi boss’ lightbulb moment
He said: "When Ange left Forest I read somewhere that he'd ordered X, Y and Z, but by the time it arrived he had already left the building. So I texted Nick and asked, 'What were you guys doing at Spurs that you wanted to take to Forest?'.
"When he told me, my next thought was, 'How do I do that, but with a more basic version?'. What we have now is a TV where we can do the same kind of analysis they have on Monday Night Football. We can move things about on the screen and it is much more interactive. It's going to help us with coaching and educating players.”
Martindale went onto say that there’s no way he’d have went ahead with deal, had it not been for the investment of Chairman Ford, who immediately bought into his strategy. The American businessman became the majority shareholder at Almondvale back in May.
‘Crack on Davie’
He continued: "normally what we do is annotate videos, but this means we can involve the players so much more, rather than just have them watching. When you turn the lights out, sometimes you wonder how much is actually going in. When they're the ones annotating and telestrating, it's better. If you write something down you'll remember it more than someone telling you. That's where this becomes much more about education for me. Coaching is just educating, really."
"I told Calvin, 'I've done the shopping, it's a Black Friday deal'. Normally these TVs will set you back £4,000 or 5,000. We've never had the money to go and do that. I said to Calvin, 'I think I can get this one for a couple of grand. Are you OK with that?'. From there it was, 'Yeah, crack on Davie, that's good', so I went away and ordered it and now it's here."
Livingston currently find themselves bottom of the SPFL table, however their position in the league perhaps doesn’t tell the full story of their season. Martindale will be hoping his new analytical bargain can help them climb the table in the upcoming weeks.