Livingston boss delighted to finally land former Hearts defender as coach

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Livingston boss David Martindale admits he's delighted to finally tie up a deal with Christophe Berra - two years after he tried and failed to sign him as a player.The former Hearts and Scotland centre-back has joined the coaching staff at the Tony Macaroni Arena with the 37-year-old being appointed first-team coach.

As part of a shake-up in Martindale's backroom staff following the departure of Marvin Bartley to become Queen of the South manager, Neil Hastings has made the step up to be Bartley's replacement.The gaffer admits he came close to signing Berra in 2021 as a replacement for Jon Guthrie but Berra elected to join Raith Rovers where he was offered a player-coach role.Despite having never previously worked together, Martindale says the newest member of his coaching staff comes highly recommended and will offer vital experience to the Lions' defenders.He commented: "I had him in the building the January before he signed with John McGlynn at Raith.

I knew I was losing Jon Guthrie and I felt I needed more experience.“Christophe instead chose to take a hybrid role with John at Raith, which I couldn’t offer him at that time.“He’s coached at Raith and at Falkirk but for me it’s not just about that, it’s about bringing in good characters.

Everyone I spoke to only had good things to say."Martindale admitted he was focused on bringing in a defensive-minded coach following Bartley's departure with the ex-Hibs midfielder having taken on plenty of that responsibility previously.And he explained the though process behind naming Hastings as his new assistant, commenting: "I gave Marv a bit of defensive responsibility so it was always in my head I was going to try and bring in a defensive minded coach.“He has experience at the