Livingston boss admits Rangers cup draw provides financial 'comfort' to club

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Livingston boss David Martindale confessed a Viaplay Cup quarter-final clash at Ibrox will help ease the club's financial woes.The club posted losses of £800,000 last year and saw a reduction in their playing budget by around £200,000 for this season - while the gaffer's still looking to offload the likes to Esmael Goncalves and Scott Bitsindou to free up more cash.However, Martindale admitted that a cup tie away to Rangers will help ease the pressure with the game potentially being worth £250,000 to the club - even in defeat.He commented: "Getting the draw at Ibrox gives us a wee bit of comfort that if these players don’t move, it’s not going to have a huge dent on ourselves going forwards.

We can absorb those costs slightly. It takes a wee bit less pressure off us in terms of having to move two or three players on."It shows you how big the Ayr game was now in the last round.

Four years out of five we’ve been in the quarter-finals and three out of those four were against Rangers - with two at Ibrox.

It’s probably income you’ve become semi-reliant on but you’re not guaranteed. It’s in the actual turnover for that end of year but you’re not guaranteeing it the following year."We lost to Dundee United last year and it’s a potentially £300,000 loss by not reaching the quarter-finals compared to the previous year.”Talk of the club's financial situation comes off the back of an interview with chairman John Ward with the Daily Mail last week that suggested potential investors have been put off by boardroom battles and legal fights while a £400,000 buyout bid by an unnamed American group was rejected by Livingston's holding company, Oppco 6.Martindale commented: "Last year we lost £800,000.