Is apparently Stuart Rome, who has resigned as assistant manager of Workington Town.

http://workingtonafc.com/news.aspx

Don't know his background but I'd imagine he has little knowledge of the current SoS league though he's ex-Annan so he might still have contacts.. I presume that "AFC Gretna" will have mainly Cumbrian-based players. Quite a coup though....

I can't get my head round the above post

Why oh why would Gretna FC want to employ an assistant manager from a lower level rugby league side? I know the Southern Counties is made up and in the main o just football teams playing on cows fields. however, rugby players playing football on a Saturday and rugby on a Sunday

I wish Gretna all the best, but it seems to me that the people are not all that bright from that area of Cumbria and they are probably just using the South League as a stepping stone back to the English pyramid system.

They should have went for the assistant manager from the ex-league club called Workington Reds!!

Ehm, Workington Reds are who we are talking about here. Follow the link.

PS Kingfaethesooth, Stuart Rome once managed Gretna Reserves, ... in the South of Scotland League

......and he has been picked because he volunteered his services. This chap hasn't been "head hunted". He fills the top two criteria of knowing a bit about the game, and most importantly, not costing any money whatsoever.

He's attended the meetings about the future of Gretna's football club I believe. I think he cares about Gretna having a football team. Time will tell, if he's any good. He's certainly cheap.

I think you'll find he managed gretna community team in the South of Scotland League many years ago. Also i'm sure he's involved within the Leisure department of Lancaster University who in turn run a football development course. This could well be the source of their new players.

I'm all for Gretna and the work there doing because it will be the first time in a lot of years when the people of Gretna will actually be welcome at the club. Lets hope they can get themselves up and running and put a bit of local pride back into the club.

Nothing definite has been agreed between the two clubs but if Gretna are up-and-running this week then July 12 is being talked about as a possible date, or in the following mid-week before the Reds tackle the Annan tournament the following week-end.

If that’s going to be the new Gretna’s first game it is likely to create a lot of interest, with the people of Gretna and the media, so Workington could benefit from a healthy gate.

The above local rag article is seriously overplaying how far Gretna have slipped to in media interest terms. They were of media interest as a "fairytale" story, and were of media interest as a tale of financial mismanagement on the grand scale. The "living the dream" fantasy which was a "living the lie" reality was always a good yarn. But now, Annan are into the SFL, Gretna's new club will be of little or no interest to the national media. I have no idea what is meant by a "healthy gate", but if anyone remains deluded enough to think of new Gretna as any sort of footballing "draw", then they are in for a major re-calibration of their thinking process.