Stenhousemuir manager Marvin Bartley will come face to face with his old club Livingston for the first time since a bitter parting of ways, as the two Scottish Championship sides meet on Friday evening in a match to be broadcast by BBC Scotland.
Bartley left Livingston at the end of last season after he and assistant Neil Hastings resigned, saying at the time they "had no option" once the West Lothian club asked them to reapply for their own jobs. The 40-year-old had taken over at Almondvale in January after stepping up from a coaching role when David Martindale, now Livingston's sporting director, moved into a different position at the club.
Since that departure, Bartley has revealed there has been no direct contact with Martindale. "No, I've not seen or spoken to Davie since leaving the football club," Bartley said. "Obviously, he's got a busy time over the summer in terms of bringing in players. He's busy, I'm busy so I've not spoken to Davie since leaving the football club."
While his relationship with Martindale remains distant, Bartley has stayed in touch with Livingston chairman Calvin Ford, who sent him a warm message after Stenhousemuir defeated Livingston on penalties in a League Cup group match at Ochilview.
Reflecting on how the split affected him, Bartley admitted the early days were difficult but insisted he has since moved past it. "At the time, I was definitely hurt in the days that followed - but if you're asking me now, my full focus is on Stenhousemuir," he said. "When the situation happened, I was really, really shocked. But the more people I spoke to about it - and the more people that found out about it who weren't shocked - probably made me realise that I was maybe a little bit naive and green. That's probably just me as a person. I take everything at face value. Right now, I have got no kind of feeling to it. It's just another chapter in my book and I'm just continuing to try to do the best I possibly can for Stenhousemuir."
Bartley's switch to Stenhousemuir has proven fruitful so far. The part-time side sit above their Championship rivals after an unbeaten start to the season, having won three and drawn one of their first four league matches - the most recent a 3-1 victory over Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Overall, Stenhousemuir remain unbeaten in nine matches across all competitions.
Bartley took the reins at Ochilview after Gary Naysmith departed for Ayr United following Stenhousemuir's promotion from League One. Since then, he has guided the club through a successful League Cup campaign, including a notable win over Premiership side Motherwell, with a quarter-final against Hearts scheduled for next Friday.
Before that clash, however, attention turns to Livingston, managed by Glenn Whelan, who have won two and lost two of their league fixtures this season.
Given the fairytale run of part-time Arbroath five years ago - when Dick Campbell's side pushed Kilmarnock to the wire in a thrilling title race - talk has inevitably turned to whether Stenhousemuir could emulate that achievement and chase a remarkable double promotion to the top flight.
Bartley, though, remains measured about such ambitions. "Every club in the pyramid now dreams of one day being in the top flight," he said. "There's still so long to go and it's a boring answer for you all, but when I came into the job we spoke about what we hope to achieve and that's not changed. We've got that target and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out what that target is because everyone had us as favourites to go down in this league and we understand we are only four games into it. We can't get carried away with thinking about promotion or play-offs or anything like that because this league is unforgiving. We're thinking about achieving our goals and if we do that, that's a minor miracle in itself when you look at the financial constraints we have compared to every other club in this league."
Based on reporting from BBC Sport Football.