David Martindale has dropped the bombshell news that skipper Nicky Devlin is expected to leave the club this summer.
The 29-year-old’s current deal runs out at the end of the season and he is set to depart under freedom of contract.
The full-back joined the Lions in 2019 and was named club captain two years ago when Marvin Bartley moved into the dugout.
Martindale has held talks with the former Ayr United and Walsall player but has accepted defeat in his bid to persuade him to stay.
He said: “We have Nicky Devlin who has been one of our best players over the last few years. He has been brilliant for us.
“His wife has just had a wee one and he probably has to look elsewhere.
“But if he does leave then I will shake his hand and thank him from the bottom of my heart for all he has done for me and the club. He will go with my best wishes.
“I would love to sell him and make money for Livingston but it doesn’t always work like that.”
Devlin is poised to follow fellow defender Jack Fitzwater out the door for free at Almondvale in the summer.
And Martindale, who accepts Joel Nouble will also leave if the right bid comes in, insists he understands why Devlin and Fitzwater are keen to take their chances as ‘Bosman’ signings.
He added: “I imagine there will be interest in Joel Nouble this summer and I will be astonished if my phone isn’t hot with clubs wanting him.
“He is under contract and we can move him on with a sale and we can get money.
“That’s the business model we want to have but sometimes it can’t happen.
“You can have players who have done well for you but teams are reluctant to spend £250,000, or £500,000 on a player who they can wait six months for and get for nothing.
“The market they are going to get to, they maybe aren’t going to a club spending that type of money on someone.
“That is probably the category Nicky and Jack have fallen into.
“It is a short career as a player and you have maybe eight years to maximise your growth.
“You have a few years trying to break into the team, then a few years at the end where you aren’t earning top money.
“It would be nice to say to the likes of Nicky we can match what other clubs are offering him.
“If we could match other clubs then I think the likes Nicky and Jack would stay here.
“It would be nice to see what we could do if we could do that - but we can’t.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here