Black prepared for First Division if Livi are demoted

Jul 29 2009 by Colin Paterson, Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

KENNY BLACK says his squad will be able to handle life in the first division if Airdrie United are promoted through the back door for the second successive summer.

The Diamonds will be handed an eleventh-hour reprieve if crisis club Livingston are placed into liquidation before the start of the league season.

Controversial Lions owner Angelo Massone has been given until noon today to accept a £25,000 offer from interim manager Donald McGruther to walk away from Almondvale.

If the Italian decides not to take the cash, McGruther admits he will have no choice but to pull the plug on a club he says are “hopelessly insolvent”.

And that will mean a belated elevation from the second division for the Diamonds despite the fact that the SFL campaign is due to start in just ten days.

Airdrie encountered this scenario last year as Gretna headed for extinction, but found out they would be playing in the first division before the squad returned for pre-season training.

The situation is entirely different this time around but Black has promised to get on with the job no matter what league his side end up in.

He told the Advertiser: “It would be good news in a way for everyone concerned but we have to be honest and say we have a squad assembled for the second division.

“It would be difficult to change course at such a late stage in the summer and this is obviously a bit of a headache for us given the timescale involved.

“I think we have players who could handle life in the first division and if we knew about this a lot earlier, perhaps we might have kept some of the ones we lost.

“We still have 11 players who experienced life in the first division and the three players we brought in from Clyde know about the league although there would need to be reinforcements to give ourselves a chance.

“Whatever gets put in front of you in football, you just have to deal with it with broad shoulders. There will be no point moaning about it if this happens.

“But let’s not kid ourselves on. We would be up against it right from day one and that is not us looking for excuses.

“The situation with Livingston has dragged on a fair bit now but we just have to focus on ourselves. It’s not ideal but all we can do is wait and see what happens.”

For the moment, all Black can do is prepare for his side’s next match which will see them host Alloa Athletic in the first round of the Co-operative Insurance Cup.

The New Broomfield chief is desperate for his team to bounce back from Saturday’s Challenge Cup loss to Partick Thistle and pick up a confidence-boosting win.

He added: “We didn’t do enough to take something out of the game at the weekend and that was disappointing.

“It will take time for things to gel but we have to keep setting our standards high and try and do well in every game we play.

“Alloa very nearly knocked Ross County out of the cup at the weekend so that is warning enough for us to know what to expect from them.”

l LOG onto www.acadvertiser.co.uk on Friday for the very latest Diamonds team news and sports reporter Colin Paterson’s first blog of the new season.

Fans can also check out our site on Saturday for the first report on how Airdrie fared against the Wasps.