Published: Thursday, 13th March, 2008 12:00
Fairy-tale that never was
By Roger Graham
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FAIRY-TALE ends, is typical of what is being written about Gretna entering administration upon the withdrawal of funding by seriously ill philanthropist Brooks Mileson — and it is nonsense.
What happened at Gretna, where one very rich man elevated a wee club way beyond its financial status, was never a fairy-tale. It was a bought and paid for exercise which NEVER at any point took account of the club’s fiscal reality.
It relied, purely and solely, on the generosity of that one man. Real fairy-tales are where non-league or lower league clubs knock out giants of the game in cup ties — in Scottish terms think of the deeds of Spartans, or Berwick Rangers in disposing of Glasgow Rangers in the 60s, Inverness Caley when they first dismissed Celtic from the cup, or Raith Rovers when they got into Europe and acquitted themselves heroically in two ties against Bayern Munich. These were real fairy-tales.
At the time when Mileson’s millions bankrolled Gretna, players were arriving on fat contracts at Raydale, the type of money few SPL clubs could contemplate, never mind any from the SFL. What is a fairy-tale about that?
As for the argument being promoted by some, that Gretna only did what the Old Firm have been doing for years — i.e bought success — that is an illogical comparison. Rangers and Celtic are huge Scottish clubs with massive backing in terms of fans and by way of commercial income. They are properly run businesses. The Gretna analogy is ludicrous.
At the time of Gretna’s great rise, I said that two or three more ‘Gretnas’ and Scottish football would be in serious trouble.
Imagine if some other benefactors had decided to make Premier clubs out of the Isle of Arran, or the Wee Cumbrae, taking no account of support or potential. That is basically what happened at Gretna.
That it was allowed to happen is an indictment of those who run the game. That Gretna were allowed to groundshare, on the promise of building a new SPL compliant ground, was also wrong. Others have had to upgrade their stadiums at huge cost.
What Brooks Mileson did at Gretna was great — for Gretna, but of no value to Scottish football. What is a team without a fan base, without a serious financial viability?
What Gretna did was deny others with real potential — like Morton — a place in the grander scheme of things. This was no fairy-tale turned sour. I do hope that Gretna as a club survive for the sake of their fans and the community, but their place in the scheme of things is in the Third, or at best Second, Division of the Scottish Leagues.
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