Gretna FC (Scotland)
The story of Gretna Football Club is one of a lot
more interest than a lot of people could ever wish to know. Now technically there
has been three different clubs called Gretna in history. The first was an amateur
team created in the late 19th century and dissolved in the mid 1920's without
leave the amateur leagues. The second which is the one that we will be looking
more into was created in 1946 and ended in 2008. Finally, there is Gretna 2008
the current team from the town.
Gretna is a small town right on the border between
Scotland and England on the edge of the Solway Firth. It's more famous
neighbouring village of Gretna Green is world renown as the place runaway
couples would go to get married.
It is a small town off no more than 4000 people. It
was in this small town just after the wars end that a number of local
businessmen, schoolteachers and solders met putting in around £10 each to raise
money to start the club rolling. Chief among them was a former football
player turned Shopkeeper called James “Jock” Kerr.
Jock Kerr was from Annan (a small village around 8
miles from Gretna). He had during the First World War worked as a fitter in the
Shipyards of Glasgow and had turned out for Queens Park during this period. Also,
he had played professionally for Blackburn Rovers and Brentford in the 20's. It
was with his invaluable experience that the club started taking its first steps
into the footballing world.
The
first season for Gretna they played in the Dumfriesshire Junior League. In that
season they finished a respectable Third in the league and played their home
games at Station Park just to the north of the village. However, after that first season the club brought a patch
of land from the ministry of war for £200 and planned to build a stadium on it
which would be known as Raydale Park. It was after that first season the club
transferred into the English football systems and joined the Carlisle and
District League. To prepare the ground for the
new league the club managed to draft in German and Italian Prisoners of War to
assist with the locals at getting the ground up to scratch.
Gretna stayed in this League for 34 years. Winning
the title 20 times and winning some former of silverware in nearly every season
they played . They did for one season in 1951-52 playing in the Cumberland
County League finishing Second. However, after just the one season this league
folded due to the financial pressures it placed on the clubs.
The club did well financially and in 1958 they
opened a social club next to the ground, then in 1963 they brought the rest of
the ground around the club. Which in 1970 they opened another social club and
in 1973 a Sunday Market was started to help raise more money. In 1980 the
Market became permanent and continues to this day.
The next league change for Gretna would come in
1982 when the Northern Premier League created a second tier. It would be the
tenth tier of English Football although it wouldn't be until 1991 that a full
pyramid system as we would recognise would come into existence.
It was in 1983 though that Gretna became the first
Scottish team in nearly a century to play in the FA Cup. Gretna won the match
3-1 against Consett.
Whilst this history was happening around the ground
the club spent £100'000 on upgrading Raydale Park. Which included Floodlights,
a new grandstand and changing rooms. As well as in 1984 creating a new
constitution who main role was the growth of football in the Gretna area as
well as helping raise money for Charity.
On the 21st December 1988 PM AM
Flight 103 was blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. The Lockerbie
Bombing cost the lives of 281 people. 11 of which were people from the town.
Lockerbie is around 20 miles north of Gretna. All the people of the area tried their
best to raise money for those affected by this awful incident.
As such Queen of the South from Dumfries played Sir
Alex Ferguson's Manchester United on the 1st of March 1989.
Whist Gretna played a Glasgow Rangers XI defeating the 2-1 in front of a
sell-out 2'000 fans.
It was in November 1990 that Gretna became the
first Scottish team since Rangers in 1887 to get through to the FA Cup First
Round Proper in which they held Rochdale to a score draw at Raydale Park before
being beaten 3-1 in the replay.
Whilst
achieving these feats Gretna also won the Northern Premier League Division one
in 1991, but it wasn't until the year after that, that the pyramid was
introduced fortunately Gretna won it that year as well and got promoted. It was
in 1993 that Gretna made there final appearance in the FA Cup First Round
Proper losing a tight game 3-2 against Bolton Wanderers. It was around this
time that the club made the decision that its future was in Scotland, simply
the higher the club went the more money it was costing in travel.
It is worth explaining at this point that the
Scottish Football League didn't have a pyramid system in place and the only way
to get into the Scottish leagues was through elections which would only happen
if a team in the league system went bust or resigned. It was never easy as it
would be the chairman of the clubs in the league who voted and the requirements
for a team to be elected were difficult and expensive. Since 2015 however, a
pyramid system has come into place to make the system fairer and to force
owners to spend money of see the club collapse into the nonleague.
It was 1993 that a chance came to join the league
system in Scotland a reconstruction of the leagues meant a gap came for two
teams to join. After then Gretna manager Mike McCartney spending many hours
single handily labouring around the ground to get it up to standard he was
devastated when the league elected Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Ross
County. Instead of Gretna.
Normally this would be a once in a blue event
however, in 1999 another chance arouses for two clubs to join the league this
time round it was Peterhead and Elgin City who got the vote into the league,
but Gretna were given hope when it was pointed out to them that it had been a
closely fought contest.
By
1999 though the club’s finances had started to come into question and the then
chairman Ron McGregor had to pay the players wages out of his own pocket to get
them to the end of the season. By the turn of 2000 Mike McCartney was sacked
and replaced by Paddy Lowery who in himself was replaced in November 2000 by a
man who had grown up in Annan and played for Queen of the South for more than 8
years and would stay manager for of Gretna through till nearly the end. His
name is Rowan Alexander. It is in this small
period of 8 years of a overall 62 years of history that possibly the most
amazing and outright remarkable story of not just Scottish football but
possibly British football.
In
2001 the annual wage bill was roughly £30'000 most of that money came from the
Sunday Market which would roughly gain £8'000 a month whilst the social club
was £1'000 a month. Which is much higher than the gate receipts as on average
only 200 people would come out to watch Gretna.
It
was around this time that the club pushed even harder to get into Scotland as
the costs of travelling around England on league duty was getting even higher.
Gretna's keenness attracted some criticism when Greenock Morton was given only
one month to get itself sorted or face being expelled from the league the then
Gretna Secretary Ian Armour quoted in the press as saying there did not need to
be any further debate about who should take Morton's place if they couldn't
proof they were saving themselves. He did quickly backtrack stating that Gretna
didn't want to appear as vultures.
Morton would survive but Gretna didn't need to wait long for their chance to
come back round. On the 1st May 2002 Airdrieonians were
liquidated owning over £2.5 million to creditors. With this happening the SFL
gave notice that a place has become open, and clubs could apply to get into the
league, but they only had until 18th June 2002 to get the
packages ready and the games would start 6 weeks after that date. So instantly
Gretna and several other clubs swung into action.
All in all, 7 clubs presented to 27 chairmen from
clubs within the league. Three clubs were favourites Gretna, Gala Fairydean and
Airdrie United a club who were run by the same chairman as the now liquidated
Airdrieonians and hadn't ever kicked a ball. The others were Cove Rangers,
Huntly, Edinburgh City and Preston Athletic.
Gretna were favourites beforehand however, with
Airdrie United coming into the picture and their chairman who had been in
the league before so therefore would know all the chairman in the room it soon
became clear that he held a good hand. Airdrie United had never kicked a ball
in anger and didn't have a ground to start with but this was soon fixed when
North Lanarkshire council who were owed money from the original club were happy
to waive this away to keep football in the town.
When the vote happened first time round it was a
tie between Gretna and Airdrie but once the two Chairman went through again and
Ron McGregor was able to confirm the figures Gretna were voted into the SFL and
a new chapter would start. Not though without the club receiving some misplaced
abuse at stopping a club (which even the chairman of Airdrie had stated was a
new club) with history in the league staying in the league.
Airdrie United would get into the league as well
though, through somewhat unorthodox means. After not being voted in Airdries
backers circled around to find a club they could buy and move. After
approaching Hamilton but suffering a backlash they set their sights on
Clydebank who had no permanent home and were in the hand of the administrators
Airdrie brought them out on the 1st July 2002. Soon afterwards
Clydebank was changed to Airdrie and the kit and badge would look very similar
to the old Airdrieonians kit and badge. One extra bit off controversy would be
that Clydebank played in the in Division One and Airdrieonians played in
Division Two but through the business transaction Airdrie United started as a
new club in a league about the old Airdrieonians. After this the abuse was
aimed rather more accurately at the Airdrie United board.
In the meantime, though at Gretna the whole club
and community went into overdrive to get Raydale Park ready and up to SFL
standard. Thankfully and too much fanfare the club were ready for their first
match as a Scottish League side in a preseason friendly against Falkirk in a
game which Falkirk won thanks to a strike from Owen Coyle. Owen Coyle and
Gretna had History this was the same Owen Coyle who scored against Gretna twice
in 1993 when Bolton beat Gretna 3-2, the same Owen Coyle who had to leave Airdrieonians
because of Gretna getting there place in the League and in the near future
Gretna would stop Owen Coyle enjoying a flying start to management, but that's
a story for later on.
At the start of their time in the league system
Gretna's wage budget was roughly £800 a week of which £100 was Rowan
Alexander's wage. So, with this youth would be the key to invest in. Gretna's
first ever Scottish Football League game was against Greenock Morton and to
everyone's surprise a crowd off over 1800 people turned out to watch that
famous first game. Only 19 seconds into that game Gretna scored but couldn't
hold on and drew 1-1 in.
Gretna instead of travelling many hours down south
they would now have to go north. It was their first trip north they had the
best away game any lower league team could face when they played against
Queen's Park FC. Who up until 2020 played at the 52,000 seat National Stadium
Hampden Park. Gretna though lost 2-1 in the challenge cup. Gretna though won
there next three games before a losing run and quickly levelled out to sixth in
the league a position that they would occupy at the end of the season.
In the cups Gretna did respectably for a Third
Division side losing to Queen's Park in the first round of the Challenge Cup.
Also going out of the First Round of the League Cup losing to East Fife at home
2-1. Whilst in there first ever appearance in the Scottish Cup they got to the
Third Round beating Cove Rangers 3-0 in the Second Round before losing to First
Division Clyde 2-1.
At the end of the season Gretna did very well
finishing sixth 32 points ahead of the team at the bottom of the league and 12
points ahead of the team in seventh. Whilst the average attendance at Gretna
teams had more than doubled in that season. It was though as so common with
Gretna that off the field more important things were happening.
It was on the 13th November 1947 in
Sunderland that a man called Brooks Mileson was born the Eldest of four
children he grew up on the Pennywell Estate in a deeply Christian household. He
was a fun child until he was 11 years old when as he was playing with friends
in a local quarry when he had a horror accident and broke his back. He was told
he would never walk again but in a show of character of the man he in 1967 came
third representing England in the World Cross Country running championships
which as soon as he came third he stopped running saying “I hated running, I
just had a point to prove”.
He
was also a classic rag to riches story. Making his money through Insurance and
Construction companies. Throughout his life he had a love of the lower football
leagues in 1992 he was the main sponsor of Whitby Town FC and in 1998 he was
the sponsor of the Northern League (the league Gretna had been previously
playing in). He would remain sponsor of that league until 2008 in which time he
had put over half a million pounds into by the time the sponsorship had ended.
By 1998 he had moved to just outside Carlisle
around 10 miles from Gretna. It was reported that when he sold his businesses
in 2004 it was for over 45 million pounds. In 1999 he attempted to buy Carlisle
United but couldn't come to a agreement on price. It wouldn't be until 2002
though that the chance to buy Carlisle United would finally come to an end.
This though was only after he had gifted the supporter’s society over half a
million pounds which allowed them to build a new grandstand and in a strange
turn off events somehow ended up paying a few of Carlisle's better players out
of his own pocket.
It was in August 2000 that Mileson first became a
club owner when he stepped in at Scarborough FC who were facing a major
financial crisis, and he would pile in over three quarters of a million pounds
into the club saving them from going bust. A little over 8 months later he sold
the club on making no profit. The club was still in a tight financial
situation, but he had at least kept the club alive, the club would finally be
liquidated in 2007, and a phoenix club would be born owned by the fans.
On the 3rd of August 2002 Gretna
played Greenock Morton in there first ever SFL game. In attendance that day was
a delegation from the Northern League which Gretna had just left a few weeks
before. A part of that delegation was Brooks Mileson who lived less than 10
miles away from the ground, but this was his first ever visit. Soon after that
he would be attending very regularly and around December time, he agreed to
become the sponsor for the youth programme paying around £20'000..
By January 2003 the club committee had more and
more often been asking Brooks Mileson for advice on the money side of the club
and at a board meeting that month they agreed to work “in parallel” with him.
Which included moving the company to being Limited, issuing of shares, the
appointing of directors, a company secretary, a chief executive, the club
budgets, youth academy, upgrading of the ground, income and sponsorship,
financial reports and finally contracts. He was all but in name owner by this
point but it wouldn't be until the spring of 2003 when a share issue was
launched and he brought 54,600 shares in comparison to the 1200 brought by
other people he was only at this point the majority shareholder officially.
As the first season ended Gretna had been in a
tight financial situation but when that second season started there was a
completely different feeling about the club. Rowan Alexander had become full
time manager during the spring and when the summer came around everyone
expected money to be spent. Gretna didn't let anyone down by soon signing
players to full time contracts whilst still playing in the basement tier. Most
of the players Gretna were signing where in the twilight of their careers but
all were coming from a much higher level and could have easily stayed at a
higher level but were swayed at high wages on long deals which is something
that a player over 30 would struggle to get even today.
As that second season started Gretna were firm
favourites for the title and everyone at Raydale Park believed that this was a
special team. This did end prematurely though when they got smashed 5-0 at home
to First Division Inverness in the Challenge Cup. Even though this happened
people still believed in promotion and that it would happen. However, by
October Gretna had 10 points from a potential 24 and were 12 behind the league
leaders. By December they had pulled themselves up to third in the table and Mileson
had become more brazen in the public domain about the wage budget Gretna had
which he said was around half a million pounds. In the winter window Gretna had
a big player turnover but it wasn't enough and the club ended the season in
third just outside the promotion places.
The failure to get out the league had come at a
heavy price in the first accounts submitted since Mileson had become majority
shareholder reviled that he had injected some £741,000 of his own cash. Plus,
with a wage bill that was clearly unsustainable at that level the club still
made a loss of £345,000 for the year ending 31st May 2004.
The losses didn't seem to affect Mileson's dreams
for Gretna though as he ploughed on with his plans to rebuild Raydale Park. The
first plan was to build a 4000-seater stadium, but this was soon changed to a 6000-seater
ground as for entry to the Scottish Premier League required all clubs to have a
stadium capacity of that number. The village population was around half that
number at that time. Which did receive some criticism when that was pointed
out. However, he did point out that in the past clubs had built big stadiums to
get to the SPL and regretted it almost straight away as the clubs had gone bust
or nearly bust in both the Airdrie and Clydebank cases. However, he remained
clear that it was his aim to keep pushing to the get to the topflight.
Meanwhile for the second consecutive season summer
on the bounce Gretna spent a lot of money on bringing in another full team of
seasoned pros on high wages in the twilight of their careers. Although in a
change to the previous recruitment policy Gretna did bring in several younger
players including 24-year-old striker Kenny Deuchar who was a fully qualified
Doctor and spent one day a week working as a Doctor at Wishaw General Hospital.
As well as nearly a full new squad the team in the bottom tier spent a week
training in Verona, Italy before a week at an outward bounds centre in the Lake
District the week after Manchester City had been there.
The money wasn't just spent on wages it was also
spent on the ground with another £60,000 being spent on Raydale park that
figure though was less than 10% of the wage budget which stood at a staggering
£750,000 which was higher than about half the teams in the topflight at the
time.
The season started well for Gretna but the Gate
receipts from the average attendance of around 400 people would only raise
around £70,000 less than a tenth of the current wage bill. To cover that wage
bill, they would need an average attendance more than 4000 people turning up.
This figure was impossible at Raydale Park but at the time people didn't seem
overall interested in the figures if the team were doing well, and the owner
was happy to dip into his pockets no one seemed to be bothered.
Gretna would drop out of the Challenge cup in a
loss to Falkirk but in the league, they had a run of 14 wins which meant Gretna
were top at Christmas and when the Scottish Cup came round in the new year the
club was in a buoyant mood.
The draw was very kind to them when they got SPL
side Dundee United at home. For the visit of United, Gretna had a temporary
stand built for the occasion. The game wasn't easy though as the game
originally planned for the 8th of January 2005 but thanks to
classic Scottish weather the game was twice delayed and finally played on
Monday 17th January 2005 instead. Before the game kicked off
Brooks Mileson handed a cheque of £5000 over to the Arab Trust the supporters
trust of Dundee United. In a grim night United would prevail 3-4 in a game that
attracted the record crowd of 3000 to Raydale park that night.
Gretna's storm to the league title that season was
finally over when in March 2005 they became the first club in the UK to gain
promotion. Whilst the title itself would have to wait till 9th April
2005 when they beat Stenhousemuir 7-0. The season ended with Gretna having 98
points from a possible 108. Another record to fall that season was Kenny
Deuchar's goal scoring record a tally of 38 league goal in 30 games including a
record equalling 6 hat tricks in one season joint with Jimmy Greaves. Overall,
the club themselves had scored a total of 130 goals in the season. As is
commonplace with the more games you win and more goals you score the more
people attend games. As the crowd increased from an average of 418 to 895.
For the next season and Gretna's first in the third
tier of Scottish football. The club started by giving both manger Rowan
Alexander and assistant manager Davie Irons 5-year rolling contracts. However,
the figures from the annual accounts weren't as cheerful. The clubs the losses
had risen by £1.9 million to almost £2.7 million. As such the SFL told Gretna
that they could no longer sign players over the age of 21. Mileson was very
much infuriated by this rule and stated he would be consulting a lawyer about
this rule. It seemed as this was a rule forced upon Gretna by the Scottish
footballing establishment in an attempt to curtail their attempts at buying
their promotions. Although the SFL claimed it was for the club’s own safety.
Either way the club spend more money on none
playing staff bringing in an Community and Education Officer, basically a coach
to try and bring strength the community links with the club to bring more fans
into games as it was soon realised that at some point in the future the current
owner may leave and whilst on a high bring as many people through the gates as possible.
Also, they brought in a Commercial Director, to assist in getting as much money
as possible into the club. Whilst these were seen as direct of the park
appointments the club with the new rules placed upon them brought in 4 coaches
3 ex-players to run the youth set up which had been moved to Rigg Collage,
Penrith some 30 miles south of Gretna.
During the rise up the league Gretna had a lot of
people who didn't take to the club or owner and on a regular basis would
predict the club would face a terrible fate as soon as the money dried up. It
was regularly pointed out by fans and media that the club was living far beyond
its means. An accusation that Mileson would openly speak about saying that he
was preparing the club for community ownership.
Mileson's money seemed never ending when in May
2005 Shamrock Rovers of the league of Ireland owed more than £2.36 million to
creditors and Mileson sent a close friend to Dublin to try and close the deal
but in the autumn the deal fell through when they couldn't come to an agreement
with South Dublin County Council over the tenancy of Tallaght Stadium. He was
subsequently linked with other Irish clubs Bray Wanderers, St Patrick's
Athletic and Shelbourne also in February 2006 he was linked with buying
Northern Irish outfit Glentoran.
At the same time though he continued to give money
to supporter’s trust's throughout Scotland and England. It is thought that
during his lifetime he gave money to nearly 70 different clubs.
In the summer of 2005 things at Gretna seemed all good, even a documentary crew
followed the club around for the season. More good news came when Mileson's son
joined the board and was told that the club would be run by him when Brooks
Mileson was no longer around. The continued speculation about a new ground
wouldn't go away as it was becoming clearer that Raydale Park simply couldn't
be made big enough for the requirements of the SPL.
As for the season itself not much changed in the
team for the first time more outgoings the incoming. On the pitch Gretna were
knocked out of the Challenge Cup in the first round and got knocked out of the
League Cup in the first round at the hands of SPL side Dunfermline 1-0. In the
league things were very good Gretna had got to the top of the league and never
really had much of a challenge. In the winter window again, Gretna revamped the
team again. Spending over £150,000 in fees that window alone.
It was the Scottish Cup that season that would make
Gretna famous and ensure that every football fan in Scotland would know who
they were. Gretna would beat Preston Athletic (6-2) and Cove Rangers (6-1)
before the third round where they played St Johnstone winning 1-0 then they
faced a Clyde side who had just beating Celtic famously 2-1 in Roy Keane's
Celtic debut. The first game against Clyde was a feisty bore draw and in the
replay, Gretna put them to the sword with a 4-0 win. In the Quarter final
against St Mirren 2850 people turned out to watch Gretna beat the visitors 1-0
with a single Kenny Deuchar goal and sent Gretna to a national cup Semi Final
at Hampden Park.
The Semi Final was against First Division side
Dundee who were in the mists of financial troubles themselves and as such
Gretna were bookies favourites to win the tie and go through to the cup final.
As much as it was a great achievement for Gretna to get this far in the cup a
lot of the media were very keen to point out that Gretna hadn't played an SPL
side. No matter what though Gretna and thousands of their fans travelled up to
Glasgow to watch them put 3 past a poor Dundee team.
The following day Hearts beat rivals’ Hibs to face
Gretna in the cup final. This meant that if Hearts who were second in the
topflight could stay in the top three that Gretna would have UEFA Cup football
the following season no matter what happened in the cup final.
As cup fever took over at Gretna the club needed to
finish the league of first and did so with 4 wins and 2 defeats. It was the cup
final though that everyone was interested in and Mileson was seen even helping
out in the Club Shop selling tickets because of the demand placed by the club
who in the end would bring nearly 12,000 people to Hampden Park an amazing feat
in a village with a population of around a third of that number. As well as
that Gretna managed to get The Hugh Trousers Band to re-record a song they had
released called “Living the Dream”. It was a song that made it into the top 30
Indie Chart and is still available to listen to on YouTube.
The final itself took place on the 13th May 2006. Hearts were
overwhelming favourites as they had just finished second in the top flight. In
a tight affair Hearts took the lead on the 39th Minute. In the
second half Gretna got a lifeline when in the 75th Minute they
got a penalty and Ryan McGuffie's spot kick was saved by Craig Gordon but
McGuffie slotted home the rebound. That is where the scoring ended and the game
went through extra time and all the way back yto the lottery of penalties. On
which Gretna were unfortunate to lose missing two pens and somewhat saving the
blushes off the top flight side. What it did mean though as the ref blew up
that in a couple of months times that Gretna would have both First Division
football and UEFA Cup football to look forward to.
As
is standard by now Gretna's accounts were looking even more worrying than
before to the year ending 31st May 2006 the club was more than
£4.95 million in debt to Mileson's company Heartshape Ltd (the company which
technically was the major shareholder in the club but very much a one man show)
and a further £400,000 to Mileson directly. To add further nervousness to the
club it was stated in the notes that these “loans” would not be requested
before the 31st March 2008. So the club still had nearly 2
years to rack up debts unless something changed. Mileson when challenged on
these facts stated that he would continue to input money in the forms of trust
funds and through his son if the worse was to happen to him.
One of the biggest issue for the club was the
ground itself upgrading Raydale Park was proving more and more difficult as the
planning permission was always coming into problems with locals not wanting
thousands of football fans in the streets every other Saturday and arguing why
does it need to be so big as the village had less people in it. As the season
05-06 came closer it became clear that the club would need to move ground as if
as secretly hoped they got promoted to the topflight they would need to ground
share with another club. Mileson always made it clear public knowledge of the
challenges he was facing getting a new ground built or improving the current
one to SPL standards.
The issues that summer were mostly settled around
the ground and if they pushed for promotion would the ground be ready in time.
Some fans were starting to get annoyed with Mileson giving money away most
notably the £600,000 he gave to Carlisle fans when some Gretna fans were
stating that this money could have been used on his own club and improving the
ground at which he was always in the media moaning about not being good enough.
It was also in this summer than Gretna brought in a Director of Club
Development the man they brought in was Mick Wadsworth who had been assistant
to Sir Bobby Robson at Newcastle and a manager in his own right both in England
and abroad as well as sometime at the FA.
Mick
Wadsworth was a man who famously had been very good at either intentionally or
unintentionally annoying the fans at the clubs he worked for. He seemed to the
fans as a strange appointment as the club had a manger so why was he there. He
didn't really help himself when he organised his own press release and said in
it “I'll be using my experience to help in all areas, from the youth team to
the first team. I'll be help Rowan Alexander, Davie Irons and David Holdsworth
to be the best they can be”. The club stuck by the line that the manager would
oversee all footballing matters. However, many fans were very suspicious of
this.
Meanwhile Gretna would soon be playing their first
game as a First Division side and this summer though things were a bit
different they didn't do a massive overall in the summer instead they brought
in a couple of good young players in but for the most part the side looked the
same as the one in the cup final a few months earlier.
On the 10th August 2006 Gretna's
European dream started. They were required to play the game at Motherwell's Fir
Park some 75 miles north as Raydale didn't meet UEFA's standards. Some 6,000
fans turned out to watch Gretna play Derry City from the League of Ireland
including a large travelling support from across the water. Gretna had started
well going up 1-0 in the 12th minute soon though it went down
hill for Gretna who would go on to lose the game 1-5. In the return leg Gretna
played much better to gain a creditable draw 2-2 in Northern Ireland.
After the European fun was over the club got itself
back into the grove of league business and any ground that Gretna visited the
club would be subjected to the same songs on the tannoy of “Irish eye, big
spender and money, money, money,”. As clubs aim small digs at the club who many
felt had brought there success. Either way it made no difference as Gretna were
12 points clear of nearest rivals St Johnstone by Christmas. They were though
knocked out of both Cups by Hibs, the League Cup saw Gretna get turned over 6-0
and in the Scottish Cup it ended 3-1.
In the meantime it was the business in the winter
window that worried most fans. A lot of the senior players including ones who
were playing regularly that season were told they could leave the club if they
could find a club to take them. Including Kenny Duechar who was Gretna's
all-time top goal scorer. It was during January 2007 that the club ran into a
bad patch and to top it off they soon found themselves having to play St
Johnstone at the end of the knowing if they won they would be 14 points clear
if they lost it was all to play for. Gretna lost 2-1 and more concerning for
the Gretna faithful was a story in the local paper that goalkeeper Alan Main
was ready to sign a pre contract with St Johnstone and whilst nothing was
confirmed, Alan Main waved to the St Johnstone fans when they chanted his name
which didn't go down well with Gretna fans or management.
At the same time as this the cost cutting continued
both on and off the park with more players being shown the door whilst off the
park 2 more members of staff were realised. A week after the St Johnstone
defeat Gretna hosted their nearest rivals Queen of the South and got beat 3-0
in which Alan Main's performance was heavily criticise and at the end of the
match the manager took an age to see the press and he was soaking wet. It was
rumoured that there had been a bust up between manager, player and Mick Wadsworth.
On
the 5th of March 2005 Alan Main was confirmed as signing a pre
contract with St Johnstone but was soon suspended by the club and would never
play for them again. On the 6th March even more and surprising
news came out of the club when it was announced that Rowan Alexander was on
sick leave with an unknown illness and for a unspecified period of time. It
would later be revealed that he was off with stress.
Whilst Gretna continued to stutter their way
through the league the hunt for a ground if the club did go up would continue
and with what now seemed like the inevitable truth the club announced that
should they get promoted they would need to ground share for at least the first
season. So, the club entered negotiations with Motherwell about sharing Fir
Park 75 miles north of Gretna.
Before the travelling needed to worry the fans, the
team needed to win the league and through April the team had the chance to win
the title on no less than 4 occasions but couldn't get it over the line. It
would go down to the final game of the season. An away tie to Ross County in
the highlands. County needed to win the match to avoid the drop whilst St
Johnstone travelled to Hamilton knowing all they had to do was win and hope
Gretna dropped points in a game that was far from a dead cert.
Over 600 Gretna fans made the nearly 300-mile trip
to the highlands at the end of April. In a game that was slightly delayed the
teams kicked off in a nervy affair. The league title was sitting in a
helicopter halfway between Dingwall and Hamilton to be whisked to the winners
at the end of the day. Soon into the first half St Johnstone were 2-0 whilst
Gretna went 1-0 down but just before the break Gretna got back into it and then
took control so half times sat at Hamilton 1 St Johnstone 3 and Ross County 1 Gretna
2 as the second halves got underway news came through that in Hamilton the
score was 2-4 and that's how it ended. But in Dingwall Ross County drew level
and right up until the end of the game it seemed destined to now be there year
but then in the dying seconds James Grady slotted home from close range take
the lead and the title by winning 3-2 although County did have a chance after
that it was too late.
As
the final whistle was blew and the trophy was flown to County among the fans
that day was Brooks Mileson who had ignored doctors advice on travelling to
watch the team win possibly the most dramatic title win in history. He had, had
a terrible year in the summer he had, had emergency surgery on a bust intestine
and was never really fully recovered but has he held the trophy aloft am sure
that's not what he was thinking about.
As soon as the parties had ended from the league
title win the club had to start preparing for the following season, noting that
any chance of playing the SPL football in Gretna wouldn't happen the club
announced that they had come to an agreement with Motherwell to play there. The
SPL gave the club the okay to play games for 1 year at Motherwell and next
season if they stayed up it would be considered.
In
June no one really knew what the management situation was until it was finally
announced that Davie Irons would become head coach and Mick Wadsworth would
become Director of Football. It was after this that a agreement with Rowan
Alexander was come to and he ended his time with the club.
On the park as the season started claims and
counter claims were fired between the now ex manager and the club’s owners.
Whilst in the window the hopes of the club signing big name players never
really happened and they started the season with no experienced goalkeeper. It
took till the 22nd of September 2007 for them to get their
first win against Dundee United winning 2-1. As the club entered 2008, they had
managed to gain just 10 points.
As
January came back around the fans hoped that as with past season the cheque
book would come out and Mileson would buy their safety. However, to many fans
horror 14 players could leave the club and the replacements were all young
youth players from middle of the road English clubs. The only one to go on and
make a name for himself was Kyle Naughton.
As February starting Gretna were just 9 points
adrift in the league. However, on the 13th of February 2008
things took a sad turn. Brooks Mileson was taken into hospital. A few days
later after the defeat to Motherwell the staff found that they hadn't been
paid. Strangely for a senior club all 60 or so staff were paid weekly and not
monthly. The club were very quick to come out and state that it was an
oversight. It turned out that the wages weren't paid direct from a club account
but from one off Mileson's personal accounts that only he could approve the
transaction. It was only now that people started to realise just how strong his
grip was on the club.
Just after this on the 19th February
to then vacant Greenock Morton job was taken by a former Gretna manager. Many
believed that Rowan Alexander who had been a Morton hero would soon to be
announced as manager. However, much to the surprise to nearly everyone it was
Davie Irons who was announced as manager. This left Mick Wadsworth in charge of
first team affairs. With the club refusing to rule out the club going into
administration, Davie Irons asked the fans for a bit of understanding as to why
he left the club.
It wasn't until the 21st February
that Mileson was finally realised from hospital and promises were made by the
family that wages and back pay would be made over the next few weeks. Soon
though the money problem was back, and Mick Wadsworth told the BBC that “Brooks
is still ill and the financial lines have been cut at the moment”. Soon after
Gretna played Dundee United on a Thursday night after it was twice cancelled
due to poor weather and the attendance was a terrible 501 a then record low
crowd for a topflight game.
The very next day staff from Gretna met with an
administration company. Despite the staff finally being paid wages it was clear
that this list of people owed money was huge. First among them was HMRC who
were owed £350,000. After just over a week it was decided to put the club into
administration to buy time and stop the winding-up orders. This choice nearly
instantly confirmed Gretna's relegation as a club going into administration
meant that the club would have 10 points deducted straight away this left
Gretna with just 6 points in the middle of March and no chance of staying up.
The relegation battle was not the battle the fans
were bothered about never mind no SPL football the chances of no football at
all was very real. Many clubs had gone into administration before and some with
bigger debts, but the difference this time round was Gretna were a lot smaller
than those clubs and couldn't drag in the numbers to help raise the vital
funds.
The most important thing was to stop losing money
at such a high rate. With such small numbers coming through the gate things
needed to change and quickly. Soon it became clear that Mileson had been
bridging the gap personally between the income and outgoing money at the club.
The administrators made a statement no long after saying that Mileson would not
be putting money into the club in the coming weeks. Theories soon started going
around saying that this money had dried up or that his family had hidden the
cheque book to try and save some money for the family.
Soon it was clear that money till the end of the
season was going to become even more difficult to find and in the end it took
the assistance from the SPL to pay the players wages through to the end of the
season just for Gretna to guarantee that all outstanding fixtures would be
played by the club.
Although the SPL were helping by paying the wages
it still didn't help with the logistics of the club who needed a gift of
£30,000 to cover the costs of an away game to Aberdeen. As the clubs struggled
several interested parties came forward interested in buying Gretna. However,
the club at the time were nearly £8 million in debt to Mileson's companies. The
club did start receiving donations from fans and fellow clubs including £500
from Third Lanark who were the last Scottish League side to be liquidated in
1967 (to find out more about Third Lanark please read about it on our website).
As March came to an end FIFA allowed Gretna players
a freedom off movement to those under contract to find a new club if they
wished if it was done before the 31st March 2008. On the 26th March
29 members of staff including 13 youth players and 9 senior players were given
redundancy notices. Included in these sackings was Brooks Mileson's son Craig.
A few days later in the society next to Raydale
Park the supporters gathered in numbers to discuss the club’s predicament and
set up an action group. Once relegation was confirmed after a defeat to St
Mirren former manager Davie Irons was asked in a BBC interview if his Morton
side avoided the drop would they face Gretna next season in the First Division
to which he said “I don't think they (Gretna) will survive” and when pushed
about Mileson's unwillingness to put further money into the club he said “I
still don't think that Brooks would walk away from Gretna. His illness must be
so bad that he can't do anything about the situation, otherwise it is bizarre”.
The action group with support from Supporters
Direct Scotland and local MPs and MSPs a plan was put together to start raising
money and in the worst-case start making preparation to create a phoenix club
if required. The first issue was that around £35,000 would need to be raised
just to play at Raydale Park and get it back up to standard for the SFL.
On the 5th April Gretna vs
Inverness Caledonian Thistle set a record low attendance for a topflight game
in Scotland when just 431 lonely souls turned out to watch Gretna lose 1-2.
The coming weeks would show that the debts were
soon revealed to show the extent of debt owed and to who which included the
non-payment of TV licences. The most important debt for the over half a million
pounds owed to HMRC and even without the Mileson debt the club still owed £1.9
million to other people and the club assists which mainly consisted of the
football ground was valued at £824,000.
It was the 13th of May 2008 2 years
to the day that Gretna played against Hearts and the atmosphere could not have
been better. It was Hearts again that Gretna would play but this time in a
subdued and almost funeral like feeling around the ground 1090 folk turned out
to watch Gretna amazing win 1-0. The team that day that turned out that day and
left a mark on history was Greg Fleming, Rostyn Griffiths, Craig Barr, Gavin
Skelton, Abdul Osman, Danny Hall, Steven Hogg, Kyle Naughton, Nicky Deverdics,
Rhys Meynell and Brendan McGill. The goal that day was scored by Gavin Skelton.
During this period the action group had swung into
action and had begun taking the steps required to create a new club. The final
hopes for Gretna to be saved were all but ended when the SFL announced that
Gretna would be relegated to the bottom tier of Scottish football. On the 29th of
May the club travelled to Hampden to try and keep their status as a SFL side
let alone what Division. At the meeting the SFL stated that it would require a
bond of £200,000 to be paid up front plus another £100,000 on a new main stand
at Raydale Park. At the meeting and the final nail in the coffin was hammered
home when the SFL asked the administrator if he felt confident that the club
could fulfil all the games the following season and with his complete
professionalism on the line, he said he felt unable to say yes.
With this information the action group went into
full efforts of creating a new club in the town. They soon created the new club
calling it Gretna 2008 FC and began the hard process of applying to the East of
Scotland League.
Thankfully they were accepted into that league and
made it very clear this was a new club with no ties to Brooks Mileson or his
family. The first season they had to play in Annan but after a year they were
able to move back to their old home at Raydale Park where they remain to this
day. Gretna 2008 are now currently play in the Lowland League one tier below
the SPFL.