THE owner of Livingston football club, Dominic Keane, said he believed the proposed merger between themselves and Clydebank, which was hanging in the balance last night, was the shape of things to come in Scottish football.

Keane, who took over the West Lothian club a few months ago with Willie Haughey, said he believed other clubs would join forces for both economic and footballing reasons in the coming years. ''There are too many small clubs struggling to survive in Scottish football and it makes sense for them to join forces,'' said Keane.

However, supporters of the clubs were last night concerned over the merger, particularly Clydebank fans who accused Livingston of trying to buy a place in the first division at their expense.

Under the proposal, second division Living-ston would take the place of Clydebank in the first division next season, signalling the death of the club, and all matches would be played at the new town club's home ground of Almondvale.

The general manager would be Jim Leishman, currently the manager at Livingston, and the first-team coach would be Ian McCall, currently in charge at Clydebank.

Discussions between Livingston and Clydebank have been on-going for two weeks and Keane said he had put a weekend deadline on the deal as he felt that a decision had to be reached soon so both clubs and their supporters knew where they stood.

''There will be some people who will criticise the move but you will have two clubs coming together to play in a custom-built stadium. That makes commercial sense and, from a footballing point of view, we will have a stronger club.

''I'm sensitive about the concerns of the Clyde- bank supporters but they will be very welcome here and, don't forget, the Livingston fans backed their campaign to stop the club moving to Dublin.''

If the attempts to merge with Clydebank are successful, they are expected to be put to the Scottish Football League for approval within the next few days.

The buy-out plan follows the unsuccessful attempts by the owners of Clydebank to move to Dublin and play their games there which were shelved after opposition from their supporters and other teams in the Irish Republic.

Last night Leishman: ''There is a lot of positive things to be taken out of this. Livingston is not trying to buy promotion. We are simply trying to merge two clubs to become a stronger force in Scottish football.''

Highland League champions Huntly will apply to join the Scottish League if the merger succeeds.