Club History 1 - By David Stoker

Last updated : 26 July 2004 By Dov
Club History 1 - By David Stoker


The Story of Livingston FC





Part One - Ferranti Thistle - the formative years

The Story of Livingston Football Club is a long and complex one, certainly more complex than many other Scottish League clubs. The story begins in the dark days of the Second World War. The country was at war in Europe and the Far East, those fit enough and deemed to be in "non-essential" occupations were conscripted into the forces, and sent far away to defend the country. A great many of those left behind were relied upon to aid the war effort in other ways such as growing sufficient food and the manufacture of munitions.

That brings us to Ferranti, a thriving business at the cutting edge of technology - and of great use to the war effort, particularly in the aviation field. Around 1943, the employees of Ferranti, who already had their own Recreation Club, took it upon themselves to organise their own "works" football team. Such an team was commonplace particularly in larger organisations, such as Ferranti, who had a workforce numbering thousands.

Details of initial matches are non-existent; wartime football, even at professional level, was notoriously haphazard - fitting in with restrictions on movement, and the availability of players who had joined the war effort. Additionally, most things were rationed, including paper, which reduced the most likely sources of information - the Edinburgh Evening News and Evening Dispatch to just four broadsheet pages most days. It is likely that Ferranti employees will have arranged matches between themselves or possibly neighbouring factories.

The earliest press recorded Ferranti Thistle matches took place in 1948, when the team had joined one of the numerous local welfare leagues in Edinburgh. Playing such footballing luminaries as "British Ropes United", Thistle were quick to prove their worth at this level, scooping six trophies, including a clean sweep in 1952-53. On the park Ferranti had progressed from a Romany existence touring local public parks to a more permanent arrangement at Crewe Toll (currently the site of Telford College).



With this success achieved, Thistle then looked to broaden their horizons a little and applied for membership of the East of Scotland League. Still in operation today, this competition was run on a semi-professional basis, with many of the member clubs competing in the Scottish Cup. Ferranti, with their track record in Welfare football and a home ground of their own, joined the other East of Scotland League teams for 1953-54.

The League contained the following 14 sides - Berwick Rangers Reserves, Civil Service Strollers, Chirnside United, Coldstream, Duns, Edinburgh University, Ferranti Thistle, Gala Fairydean, Hawick Royal Albert, Murrayfield Amateurs, Peebles Rovers, Selkirk, Spartans and Vale of Leithen. It is worth noting that no fewer than 9 of these teams still play in the East of Scotland League (in italics).

Thistle found the going much tougher at this level - the first match on August 15th 1953, at Gunsgreen Park, Eyemouth resulted in a 3-1 win for the local side Ferranti's historic goal was scored by Lowry. The first victory (a 7-2 win at home to Chirnside) did not arrive until October. In total six matches were won out of 26, while the team made early exits from the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup and the King Cup. Regulars in this pioneering season included current club Honorary Vice Presidents, John Bain and Bill Mill.

The following couple of seasons followed a similar pattern with some outstanding scoring performances, both for and against. Coldstream destroyed Ferranti 9-2 in Colstream in September 4th 1954, while Chirnside were beaten 7-5 at Crewe Toll in the following January. One of the best sides in the East at this time was Eyemouth United, who were to reach the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup in 1960, and they inflicted Ferranti's heaviest defeat ever in August 1955, a 11-0 hammering.

Ferranti showed no significant signs of improvement until the early 1960's, but finally came good in 1964, picking up their first piece of silverware. Then, as now, the minor members of the East of Scotland FA played a qualifying competition to determine who would have the right to face the Association's most senior clubs in the East of Scotland Cup (City Cup).

Thistle began their 1963-64 East of Scotland Qualifying Cup campaign with the toughest of draws, Eyemouth United at home on August 31st. A creditable draw was achieved at Crewe Toll, and a fortnight later, in the replay, Ferranti pulled off a superb 2-0 win. Eyemouth were undoubtedly a quality side and faced Celtic at Parkhead later that season, in the First Round of the Scottish Cup, losing only 3-0. Vale of Leithen were dispatched 3-1 in the second round, before triumphing in the semi final tie with Selkirk, after a replay. This set up a final showdown with Gala Fairydean on January 18th 1964. Gala were strong favourites - then, as now - a club with a proud record at East of Scotland level, but the unfancied works side triumphed 2-0 with Brown and McTiernan the all-important scorers. The winning side (not particularly happy it seems!) are pictured below.



This win entitled Ferranti a crack at the City Cup. In the mid 60s, Berwick were the only East FA club in the Scottish League (apart from Hearts and Hibs) and always met the winners of the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup in the City Cup final. Due to fixture congestion the game had to be held over to the beginning on the 1964-65 season, and on September 5th, Thistle went down 4-0 at Shielfield Park. It was no disgrace, though, Berwick were a top-half old style Second Division side at the time.

In between times, on February 289th 1964 a record victory was secured when Ferranti tanked Edinburgh University 11-1 at Craiglockhart in a League game. For the record the scorers were - Angus (4), White (3), Gillies (2), Teasdale and Lawrence.

Unfortunately these achievements could not be built upon in the following years and indeed, Thistle were to have two of their worst ever season between 1964 and 1966. The King Cup final was reached in 1968, although Coldstream proved to strong in the final, winning 5-1.

On the plus side, as the sixties drew to a close Ferranti, like astronaut Neil Armstrong were to take a great leap forward.