markc Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Newcomer to the forum (from England)..my grandparents were Scots so please go easy !! Watched the Gretna doc on sky..fascinated..have read up what i can..but Sky didnt go into detail so can anyone help with these questions. 1.Did Mileson have millions at any point? 2.Was there a tipping point ? 3.Why didnt they improve the ground in good time before getting to SPL ? 4.What was the reason he fell out with the manager ? 5 Why was Mick Wadsworth brought in and what for ( he's never done much ) ? 6 If Mileson had remained in better health would things have been ok ? 7 Where was Mileson when it started to go wrong ? 8 I get the impression he knew it was ubsustainable in the season BEFORE the SPL and just left them too it from that point ?? ANY answers would be welcome.... Many thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audaces Fortuna Juvat Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 When he got ill his sons pulled the plug, so to speak. I would have done exactly the same. It was their inheritance. He gave money to numerous clubs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 I don't imagine the ££ was ever there to fund it, but (IIRC) they orginally tried to make Raydale compliant by cramming a stand down the main stand side and putting 2 huge ends in. Sort of like Stark's Park but on steroids. Then it was a nonsensical "eco-stadium" idea built elsewhere. They did upgrade Raydale as they rose up SFL. Originally it looked like this: Side 1 - Main Stand Side 2 - Side Terrace End 1 - can't find a photo of this, it was an open terrace X End 2 - Long Terrace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 They then replaced both ends with semi-temporary stands, of which that replacing the Long Terrace has now gone. At some point the roof came off the Side Terrace too, and although I don't remember it, I see mention online that one half was fitted with 2 rows of seats, presumably while still roofed. End 1 - semi-temporary seated stand, which replaced open terracing. I think this may have been open seating for a while until the roof went on. End 2 - semi-temporary covered terrace (although in the picture it looks like some are sitting?), which replaced Long Terrace CURRENT SET-UP USED BY GRETNA 2008 Side 1 & End 1 - Main Stand and semi-temporary stand which replaced open terracing Side 2 & End 2 - formerly held the Long Terrace and its semi-temporary replacement, and the Side Terrace - both now demolished and unused Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE63 exile Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Newcomer to the forum (from England)..my grandparents were Scots so please go easy !! Watched the Gretna doc on sky..fascinated..have read up what i can..but Sky didnt go into detail so can anyone help with these questions. 1.Did Mileson have millions at any point? 2.Was there a tipping point ? 3.Why didnt they improve the ground in good time before getting to SPL ? 4.What was the reason he fell out with the manager ? 5 Why was Mick Wadsworth brought in and what for ( he's never done much ) ? 6 If Mileson had remained in better health would things have been ok ? 7 Where was Mileson when it started to go wrong ? 8 I get the impression he knew it was ubsustainable in the season BEFORE the SPL and just left them too it from that point ?? ANY answers would be welcome.... Many thanks in advance. Answer to question 5. The Mileson/Wadsworth connection was made at Scarborough a couple years ago before the latter got involved at Gretna. Mileson didn't know a lot about football and he relied heavy on Wadsworth's knowledge/experience more than he did with Rowan Alexander. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mizfit Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 answer to 7: Mileson was suffering from ill health, and went missing, at the same time wages were late and the signs of trouble began to appear. they had a buyer IIRC correctly before being punted to the 3rd, the buyer pulled out and they were liquidated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markc Posted November 25, 2014 Author Share Posted November 25, 2014 Thanks for the answers so far...ive read Mileson saddled the club with debt and also the phrase 'he used other peoples money' ....what is meant by that in this case ?...did he not use his own ? ...he seems to have had little involvement after the cup final.. was this purely down to his health ? What caused the fallout with the manager..i read an old article on the web where the manager says Mileson gave him a 5 year contract and promised him the earth then completely went back on everything he said and pulled the plug ( this was when still in Div 1 before SPL season of doom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mizfit Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 We were breathing down gretnas Arse, it was there first proper challenge and it looked like Alexander was loosing the dressing room (Especially when it was basically confirmed Alan Main had rejoined us on a PCA before it was confirmed to the news). Mileson wasn't a popular figure in Perth, and Geoff Brown made it clear that he held no respect for him or the club, I wonder how many other chairmen and managers had that feeling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdenbeath Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 They then replaced both ends with semi-temporary stands, of which that replacing the Long Terrace has now gone. At some point the roof came off the Side Terrace too, and although I don't remember it, I see mention online that one half was fitted with 2 rows of seats, presumably while still roofed. End 1 - semi-temporary seated stand, which replaced open terracing. I think this may have been open seating for a while until the roof went on. End 2 - semi-temporary covered terrace (although in the picture it looks like some are sitting?), which replaced Long Terrace The long terrace opposite the main stand had a couple of rows of seats which were a throw back to the days in the Unibond League when they needed a set number of seats to make the grading. The end behind the goal which had the seated temporary stand put in originally was just a wee bit of open terracing. The other end had a covered enclosure with concrete steps which was there from the Unibond League days it wasn't a temporary structure as you say and offered the best view of the game apart from sitting in the main stand. I think they took that terrace away in preparation for rebuilding the ground which of course never happened sad really as it would have been a good bit of terracing for the current Gretna 2008. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Apologies, I thought they replaced the Long Terrace with a larger temporary enclosure and that's why it's now a void. It looks much deeper in the photo with the crowd. My memory is hazy but were Alloa or East Fife or someone not supposed to be buying the temporary seated stand off the liquidators? Obviously that fell through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdenbeath Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Apologies, I thought they replaced the Long Terrace with a larger temporary enclosure and that's why it's now a void. It looks much deeper in the photo with the crowd. My memory is hazy but were Alloa or East Fife or someone not supposed to be buying the temporary seated stand off the liquidators? Obviously that fell through. I think before Alloa bought their current temporary stand (from some rugby club in Wales I think) it was mentioned in the media that they were looking at buying the one from Raydale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergeant Wilson Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Thanks for the answers so far...ive read Mileson saddled the club with debt and also the phrase 'he used other peoples money' ....what is meant by that in this case ?...did he not use his own ? ...he seems to have had little involvement after the cup final.. was this purely down to his health ? What caused the fallout with the manager..i read an old article on the web where the manager says Mileson gave him a 5 year contract and promised him the earth then completely went back on everything he said and pulled the plug ( this was when still in Div 1 before SPL season of doom If I find out this is for your fucking dissertation... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markc Posted November 25, 2014 Author Share Posted November 25, 2014 Hi Wilson ( dads army is great..the one where you become an honorable man is my fave..its on this Saturday). Not sure what a disertation is ? Im just very interested in filling in the gaps from the Sky documentary which raised more questions than answers for me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markc Posted November 25, 2014 Author Share Posted November 25, 2014 All the stuff about the terraces is fascinating guys but any chance of getting back to my questions ? Thanks again.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergeant Wilson Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Not sure what a disertation is ? Shouldn't be a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICTChris Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 There was a poster on here who was a creditor, I think he was an architect who did plans for the Raydale eco-stadium. He posted some goodstuff in threads at the time about what happened. Usually I think people describing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 The roof on that long terrace was low enough to touch with plenty of arm to spare. Made for a hell of a racket when we stuck 4 past them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Half Rice Half Chips Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 The only time I ever liked Gretna was when they played Hearts in the cup final (and they put up a better show than our lot subsequently managed). Oh, and for a long time they were an almost guaranteed coupon result, which was nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnstoun Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 I believe the club were given a credit facility of £5m on the basis of Mileson's supposed wealth, and this is what bankrolled them through the leagues. This facility was overdrawn during the final promotion season leading to the sudden cutbacks that year. From that point they were basically a basket case. Pretty sure he didn't leave much but debt to pass on as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markc Posted November 26, 2014 Author Share Posted November 26, 2014 Johnstoun...thanks for that info...that makes sense,from what i have pieced together it seems that they were in a mess Before the SPL season started. He obviously made zero plans for life without him... surely somebody should have spotted that ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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