LIAM BUCHANAN insists lifting the League One title with Livingston was the perfect way to cap a fairytale year, on and off the pitch, as he backed the Lions to hold their own in the Ladbrokes Championship next term.
The West Lothian outfit secured promotion at the first time of asking on Saturday – and did so in style, defeating their nearest challengers Alloa 2-1 to claim the crown.
Buchanan, 32, has been a talisman in Livi’s romp to the trophy, bagging 25 goals to set a new scoring record for a single campaign for the Almondvale outfit.
After lapping up Saturday’s celebrations on the field with his baby son, Mason, the former Dunfermline and Partick Thistle striker admits a whirlwind 12 months could hardly have gone any better.
He smiled: “It’s strange, I’ve had my best season in my first year of being a dad - maybe the lack of sleep brings out the best in me!
“It has been a great year at Livingston, being able to chip in with a few goals and win promotion, and it has been brilliant away from football as well. It’s been a quick year - that’s for sure - but a really amazing one.
“My mum brought Mason to the game and it was brilliant to have him there at full-time and for him to be on the pitch with me. These are the special moments and the days you want to share with the people close to you and family.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have experienced days like this before but, when you get that little bit older, you realise they don’t happen every year and you appreciate them a lot more.
“The gaffer has done well to get this club back up and the boys deserve all the praise they get because, make no mistake, it’s not easy to get out of this division.”
Buchanan is adamant Livi will not rest on their laurels after securing a return to the second tier, with David Hopkin’s men determined to cement their Championship status.
He added: “I’m sure we’ll be working hard to get a few new recruits in over the summer, but the boys that are here - especially some of the young talents we’ve got - are improving all the time. I think they’ll relish the chance to go and play in the Championship.
“There is definitely everything in place for us to kick on again and keep progressing.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here