'Spaghettihad' no more: Tony Macaroni end Livingston stadium sponsorship

Livingston have announced that their long-running stadium sponsorship deal is to come to an end, with the club’s ground no longer being called the Tony Macaroni Arena.

The restaurant chain have been club sponsors since 2012, initially as shirt sponsors and then purchasing the stadium naming rights two years later.

However, the club has revealed that the partnership will be coming to “a natural close” and a new sponsor is being sought.

The deal had been high-profile, with the club playing in the top-flight since 2018 and the Tony Macaroni Arena, dubbed ‘the Spaghettihad’ in reference to Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, becoming well-known to football fans across the country.

A club statement read: “Livingston FC and Tony Macaroni today announced that their long-standing sponsorship will be coming to a natural close.

“Tony Macaroni is the longest-running shirt and stadium sponsor in the club’s history and as such, the club would like to mark the end of this deal by paying tribute to Sep Marini and all the team at Tony Macaroni.

“The 2023/24 season marked the ninth season with the Italian restaurant chain as our stadium sponsor and an 11th year with the Tony Macaroni logo appearing on our first-team match kit.”

Livingston FC chief executive officer Dave Black said: “We are grateful to Sep and the Tony Macaroni chain as a whole for their continued support over the last 11 years.

“In this day and age, it can be difficult to encourage companies to take up sponsorship packages but to have had that support from Tony Macaroni for such a prolonged period of time has been tremendous for the club.

“Of course, the Tony Macaroni Arena stadium name has become a well-known venue within the Scottish game and I don’t think either the club or Tony Macaroni themselves could have predicted how far and wide that stadium name would travel and have such an impact.

“This may be the end of the sponsorship but we look forward to a continued relationship with Sep and his team and they’ll be forever welcome back as spectators in the future.”