Livi Appeal rejected by the SFL BUT the saga continues

Last updated : 13 August 2009 By Fargone

(From BBC) Livingston will turn to the Scottish FA after their appeal against demotion to Division Three was rejected by the Scottish Football League.

And, for the second week running, the club are to refuse to fulfil their scheduled Third Division tie.

Livingston, now in the hands of a new consortium, were thrown out of Division One by the SFL management committee after going into administration.

And SFL member clubs voted to uphold that decision by a majority of six.

Livi, who finished seventh in Division One last season, refused to play their scheduled Third Division fixture last weekend and are due to host Montrose on Saturday.

However, the Livingston 5 Ltd group, who completed their purchase of the West Lothian club on Thursday, believe playing would prejudice their case to remain in Division One.

The SFL's management committee took the decision to drop Livi into the bottom tier after a breach of their insolvency regulations.

Following Livingston's appeal, the matter resulted in a 16-10 vote to stick with the original judgement.

Four clubs were not allowed to vote; Annan Athletic as they are only associate members, Livingston, Airdrie United and Cowdenbeath as they all had pecuniary interest in the outcome.

Airdrie have already played their opening Division One game after being saved from relegation by the decision to demote Livingston, while Cowdenbeath were promoted to Division Two.

Livingston are now in the hands of a group, headed by former director Ged Nixon, Neil Rankine, ex-chairman of Dumbarton and Gordon McDougall, former owner of Cowdenbeath.