Aha, I read that the SFL might allow New Rangers to enter into the 1st Division, amid fears of a slow death of Scottish football. Didn't they realise that Scottish football was a zombie anyway..? Time for root and branch, and a bit of fair play, rather than leg ups to a club that has already had more than its share of success. I understand that a significant number of Rangers fans want to enter the SFL at the lowest division. Good for them.
I think the whole affair has dragged o far too long. One can't help but surmise that, if 'club 12' had been, say, Kilmarnock or Ross County, they would have already been dumped into the Scottish Third Division and the pantomime would have been over before it started.
Well we have kind of been here before, when an overinflated Gretna finally went pop a few years ago. Gretna 2008 FC were swiftly sent to the bottom of Scottish football (and it really is the bottom).
Shame about Gretna. They lived the dream for a while. Let's face it, all clubs who overspend to the point where they can't live with it are actually doing the same thing as they did. Rangers, Pompey, you name them. The reason I look at them a little fondly is that they were a minnow team who rose through the ranks and gave several established teams, who took them lightly, an occasional bloody nose. The perennial underdog that had aspirations to become a topdog for a while. And the point about other Scottish teams being swiftly despatched to lower leagues, instead of this infernal Newco pantomime, is well made.
Rangers cheated their way to league titles and cups and Celtic have stayed within the rules and have been swindled(along with other clubs)out of trophies they should rightly have won but for the cheats from Ibrox. So provided Celtic continue to play within the rules there's no problem if they are champions year upon year from now on,its up to the other clubs to stop them. Within the laws of the game of course.
Yes it was a shame. I'm not an expert but as I remember the owner withdrew his funding after their SPL season, debt outweighed assets, and from there it was game over. One of the other problems with the Scottish system is there is no promotion and relegation between the SFL and the regional leagues below. It seems like a question between Division 1 and Division 3 now, so let's wait and see what happens.
The owner suffered from very poor health. Rich bloke [ok, I'll look up his name as I've forgotten it], Brooks Mileson was a self made millionaire who loved lower league football, and he wanted to take a tiny club and pump it with money to see how far he could take it. Who wouldn't like the idea of doing that..? Of course, he took Gretna FC a long way, and they rocketed through the Scottish divisions. It was never sustainable, but I bet it was good while it lasted. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Mileson
Agree 100% but I can't see another Scottish club with the fan base and club finaces to challenge them throught a whole season, which, in itself is a rather sad state of affairs.
I actually think Gretna is one of the saddest stories in football, up there with Rushden and Diamonds and Fleetwood in a few years time. Rich man buys football club and treats it as his personal plaything, goes on a megalomaniac spending spree which the club could never afford, purely to satisfy his own desires for love/publicity/whatever then for one reason or another buggers off. It's the footballing equivalent of what Fred Goodwin did at RBS. Plus they are arguably far bigger 'cheats' than Rangers. It's just that they are Derek Trotter and Rangers are Gordon Gekko.
Read up on it. He didn't bugger off, he suffered chronic ill health and then died of a heart attack, but kept up the financing until he could no longer sanction it. He also regularly put his hand in his pocket to help out a number of small clubs. He took Gretna from nowhere, and that's where they ended up. In the middle, plenty of people had a great time. As far as I know, he didn't leave debts.
Sorry, but I have to disagree with you on that one. I'm well aware that Mileson died, but the end result is the same, he left a huge mess behind him (to the tune of £4 million of debt). And Gretna didn't end up nowhere, they ended up not existing, when before Mileson they were a reputable 3rd division side. I know you might say that doesn't matter, it's only Gretna, they should be happy for the 15 minutes of fame he gave them, but if Saints were taken over by a Russian (lets call him, oh I don't know, Geydamuk), who 'spent' millions on the side and took us to a premier league title, but then left/died/ran out of money/got banged up in some Siberian ****hole, leaving us in so much debt that the club folded, and we had to reform as AFC Southampton in the Wessex league first division, If St. Mary's was turned into a council estate and we lost all our history, would you be saying, well it was a good ride and it was worth it, and Geydamuk was a lovable rogue really? If you would then fair enough, but i'd be pretty pissed off. For a bit of context these two articles are very good http://www.scotsman.com/sport/last-...-by-war-heroes-to-give-village-hope-1-1171061 http://www.scotsman.com/sport/mileson-ego-to-blame-says-saints-chief-brown-1-1171213
Yep, I accept that. The dream went sour. From a neutral's point of view, at the time, you couldn't help but cheer them on though. Gretna have re-emerged as Gretna FC 2008.
