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LIVINGSTON boss Davie Martindale believes Dundee United will not be able to afford Alan Forrest, despite highlighting the size of the Tannadice club’s budget.
The winger has been linked with a pre-contract switch to Tam Courts’ side after turning down a move to St Johnstone in January.
However Martindale, whose team host United tomorrow night, insists the in-form forward – who has scored five goals and come up with four assists this season – will not be short of interest this summer.
Martindale, whose team thrashed Dundee 4-0 at the weekend, said: “No disrespect to Dundee United but I think Alan is going to have bigger clubs after him and I also think I’ve got a good chance of keeping Alan.
“Alan could have left for St Johnstone in the January window and earned a lot more money than he’s getting here but he came in and said he didn’t want to go.
“It wasn’t about the money so fair play and I think we’ve still got a good chance of keeping him ourselves.
“But I do believe when Alan’s time comes he is going to have bigger opportunities elsewhere.”
Livingston are only a point adrift of fifth place United but Martindale was quick to point out that there is a big difference in the resources.
In their latest set of accounts, United’s wages-to-turnover ratio was a huge 132 per cent, with the club posting an operating loss of £2.27.
And Martindale insists his team do not get the credit they deserve as they push for a third successive top-six spot, even though they have the least amount of money to spend on players.
Martindale added: “Tam has done really well, he’s got a big budget and he should be doing well.
“He’s got some big players there, they have the ability to go and attract Tony Watt, Kevin McDonald, Charlie Mulgrew.
“They also have Benjamin Siegrist and Marc McNulty – they are all players that command big money.
“Everyone else likes to play budgets down but when you’re the club with the smallest budget in the Premiership I want to play it up.
“It’s a talking point. I laugh sometimes when I see some of the comments on Scottish football in general.
“When teams go away in Europe and are playing teams that have triple their budgets and they beat it’s, ‘what about the budgets, what about the budgets’.
“When it comes to Livingston, budgets don’t come into the equation.
“I generally think Thomas has done a good job and has a top six budget in my opinion so they are where they should be.”
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