Bartley departure has ignited fan anger towards Martindale

[BBC]

This season has gone from bad to terrible, with the long-hanging relegation confirmation swiftly followed by the manager and his assistant walking away.

It was a total shock when Marvin Bartley posted on his socials that he was leaving, citing that having to apply for his own position wasn't what had been agreed.

This has really rocked the Livi boat and we are in serious danger of having more managers than wins this season.

To be fair, that's only one side of the story and the club only really gave it a small mention in a rallying statement from the chairman last Thursday, which is fair enough given there may be a lot of ramifications around big Marv's decision.

What is for sure is it riled a lot of Livi fans. There has been a fair bit of negativity towards David Martindale, which built and built across the season, and it kind of went quiet when he stepped 'upstairs'.

The resignation ignited a lot of anger among the support and that was directed at the old manager. I always thought it was 50/50 in terms of a divide for and against Martindale, but this week it was clear there were a lot of fans very much against.

There have been lots of questions raised about who actually picks the team and the complete control Martindale has at the club.

There may be a way forward with Martindale as director of football being open and transparent with fans on how things are and how things will work. That dialogue is the very least that can happen.

Some of the folks I sit beside are already saying they won't renew because they are so scunnered with everything and feel the club is under the total control of one person.

As fans, we have to give the chairman the chance to put his plan into place and make the changes necessary to get us back into the Premiership at the first time of asking.