LIVINGSTONE: Stewart Fisher meets Roberto Landi and finds that the Almondvale manager is not exactly the shy and retiring type

LIVINGSTON may have slipped from the peak of the Irn-Bru First Division in recent weeks, but Roberto Landi has no shortage of friends in high places. The club's Italian head coach last week claimed that not only did he take part in a number of conversations with Mohamed Al Fayed about the vacancy at Fulham prior to the appointment of Roy Hodgson last January, he was even sounded out in connection to a possible managerial vacancy at a nameless Championship club in the last 10 days. That particular vacancy never arose, and in any case Landi was happy to continue acclimatising to British football at Livingston. But there should be little doubt about his ambition to make it big in the UK.

"Last season I was linked with the Fulham job for about one second," said Landi, whose affairs are managed by Barry Silkman and Israeli super-agent Pini Zahavi. "I spoke three times with Mohamed Al Fayed and I received one phone call three days before Christmas, saying that if Lawrie Sanchez lost on Saturday he would be sacked. I then received a call on the Monday, saying sorry, we apologise but the chairman wants Roy Hodgson'. But it is difficult down there for UK chairmen to take on an Italian manager because we play with a more defensive system, a more catenaccio style.

"Then, honestly, one week ago, I received an offer from a Championship team, a team which has a manager who started off winning but then results have not been so good," he said. "They asked me if there were any possibilities but I said no. I have a contract at Livingston. I want to challenge here, and finish my contract here. It is fantastic for me, because I can learn about the Scottish and English mentality without too much scrutiny. It is a very good school for me."

Landi - who also turned down a money-spinning move to Egyptian giants Zamalek prior to signing a two-year deal at Almondvale - may be content to bide his time for the moment, but this should not be mistaken for any shortage of belief in his own ability. Indeed, during an engaging interview in West Lothian, Landi not only guaranteed Livingston fans the title should they still be challenging when the transfer window opens in January but also suggested that Jose Mourinho would struggle to show how "special" he was if he was Livingston manager and boasted that he knows the secrets which have eluded Gordon Strachan and Martin O'Neill in their quest for Champions League away points. He hardly stopped to draw breath along the way.

Let's deal with them in reverse order. First up, his remedy for Celtic's Champions League travel woes. "If you think about Celtic, from 1994, they don't win even one match away from home in the Champions League. That is 14 years," Landi said. "Why, you may ask? Well I know. I understand the supporters wouldn't be happy with a really tactical approach, because that means there will be many fouls and many suspensions - many, many, many - but if you want the results, three points, and a place in the next round of the Champions League, you need to do that. Italy won the last World Cup in Germany, and played the best football in the last century. But it is 1-0, foul, foul, whistle, whistle and there you go world champions."

Next up for discussion is why, in his opinion, England manager Fabio Capello is good, but Mourinho bad. "I hope I can make a good balance between the Scottish mentality and the Italian style to build a very strong team which can win the league, and play in the SPL, Europe and the Uefa Cup," he said. "I am Roberto Landi. I have my personal style. Each manager has his personal style. I don't want to change. I like Capello because he is the right man. I don't like Mourinho because he talks too much. I like Capello because we have the same character, you understand, we are both strong. I don't like it when Mourinho talks too much with the press about The Special One' and all that. I want to see Mourinho at Livingston - not Chelsea or Inter Milan - to see if he is the Special One."

Landi's own time at Livingston -under the control of chairman Angelo Massone, director Tomasso Angelini and director of football David Hay - is progressing just fine, even if their unlikely title challenge has been compromised in recent weeks by injuries and ill luck. Landi believes all is far from lost. "Believe me, if we arrive at January 1 when the window opens in the first two or three positions, just two or three points behind the top position, then I will win the league, that is for sure," he said. "We would then be looking for three or four top players but I don't know if that will happen because from now until January there are another eight games and I don't know if we will survive that long."

Despite being only what he terms "a medium goalkeeper", Landi's playing career saw him cross paths with the likes of Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Cruyff with New York Cosmos in the NASL, but he is infinitely more proud of his managerial cv. Stints as under-21 coach in both Georgia and Lithuania saw him cultivate a reputation for improving players, but he still regrets his decision to leave Romania's National Bucharest, who he took into the Uefa Cup, to chase the money in Qatar as under-21 coach. More misfortune followed at Hungarian side Soprom, as the club encountered financial difficulties, and Uefa's lawyers were required to help him recoup just 50% of what he was owed.

Livingston are no strangers to such difficulties themselves, and with creditors still claiming from Pearse Flynn days and poor crowds, neither Landi nor anyone else can give any guarantees that those days have gone forever. Nonetheless, Landi calls it a "very solid club now", says he doesn't see it as his job "to entertain the supporters" and feels the lack of home support allows his team to play without pressure. He plays every match to win because "too many draws is a problem" and he is building for the future. "I see one good player from St Johnstone here, another good player from Dunfermline there," he said. "I am already making my list for next season."

Whether he is there long enough to see it all happen remains to be seen.