gretnascotty

Welcome back? When was he manager before? Exactly!

Brother Grimm has just made an excellent point! Lets not get carried away with ourselves, Rowan has never managed the club before. We all remember the glory years of the previous club but Gretna 2008 are a different club! We worked really hard to shift the "Big time Charlie" tag that followed us into the East of Scotland League and we're certainly not naive to think Rowan is coming into the club to bring league titles and cup wins to the side, that just isn't realistic whatsoever. We need to consolidate our position in the Lowland League first and foremost and build from there. Rowan helped build the old club from the ground up previously but glory years were down to money and that's something at this level we're never likely to have.

Good showing at the fans forum tonight, even though the new gaffer was an hour and a half late Rowan came across really well, definitely think we have the right man in charge to take us forward (at least for the rest of this season at least) He won’t stand for any shit. Hard work to come but looking forward to it.

Spoke to Nikki last night, 100% not him. Was very unprofessional of the club to not only sack him after the game but to actually word it saying “manager & assistant sacked” I said he would get sacked as i heard a rumour last weekend but i joked yesterday after Chris scored that he’d earned a reprieve. Fans forum on Monday night and new manager will be unveiled. Welcome to Gretna 2008 Rowan Alexander

Yes your correct, the open part at the side (where i stand to watch games now) did have a temporary stand there when the old club were in the SFL. It was taken out either when the club gained promotion to the Spl or when the administrators came in.

As far as i am aware, the stand in the picture is available to use. There was sufficent maintenance done on it during the summer. I don't understand why personally as we're not going to get attendances of any size for us to get any use out of it but there were supporters in it on Saturday against Bonnyrigg and i recall seeing other supporters in it another time.

Floodlights were failing at Burton Albion v Bournemouth last week in the cup! The lights Gretna currently have installed have never failed before last night, the club have had use of them this season already and training takes place twice a week, i know they have been used as i live not far away and can see them from my upstairs window. What happened last night i could not say but i'd expect the fault to be looked at and taken care of.

In all honesty a draw was a fair result today but you boys got the win! But the guys down the far side need to lighten up a bit, one of your supporters punched 2 of my pals today, while some of the early verbals were a bit out of order what followed was a bit of banter, i'll be at the reverse fixture, hopefully won't be scenes like there was today!

There is a pitch inspection at 9:30 in the morning, i have my doubts the game will be on with all the rain we’ had down here the last few days but fingers crossed!

It's not the lower leagues in Scotland that need to address their Promotion/Relegation issues its Scottish League Two that needs sorted! 1 team down but thats only if they lose a 2 legged playoff against the winner of the Highland/Lowland league champions! The bottom team in the League Two should be relegated with the winner of the other tie going straight up. There is far too much protection for SLFL teams imo.

With regards to tomorrow's fixture i'm hoping to get away from work early but there has been a lot of rain this week, quite a lot today and forecasted throughout the night and tomorrow so i have my doubts of it being on.........Fingers crossed!

Last night while watching the draw i was getting excited about the prospect of getting a really good home tie or if it was to be an away tie, Annan, Queens Park or Albion away really appealed (had a great day out at Cliftonhille watching the old Gretna win League 2 there when i was about 18/19) but unfortunately we got EK away. Obviously we know plenty about the opposition but i really didn’t want anyone away from home in our own league & its an extremely tough game regardless. Going back to Saturday’s game against Hill of Beath though, i really expected a better standard from them, 3rd in the East Premier & with odds of 4/11 the bookmakers expected they’d batter us but in all honesty all they had was a big punt up the field every time they got the ball. We rode our luck in the first half but also missed a couple of decent chances ourselves. We deserved to win the game, i thought each of them to a man were outstanding and was really refreshing to see a solid team performance (clean sheet being a welcome bonus) rather than some of the drivel we’ve seen so far this season. That was the first time where i’ve looked at the 11 on the park and thought we had a settled looking side, we did miss Wadge our captain but he’ll struggle to get back in that centre back pairing of Dicko & Jackson. Bonnyrigg Rose on Saturday, hopefully i make the game as i have work but while it will be an extremely tough game i think if we can perform like the weekend just gone then we have a chance! I said on our facebook page last week we have to stop moaning about these junior teams, Kelty, Bonnyrigg, Linlithgow etc they might have more money, better players, setups etc but we’re beat as soon as the 1st goal goes in, heads drop and we get pumped 5,6-0 and more and the excuses from some of the guys at the club is what i’ve just mentioned. A football match starts at 0-0 and we have to go out there regardless of the opposition and fight tooth and nail to get results in every game this season. That is the only way we’ll survive.

What is this "Dark Cloud" you speak of?

I've no idea if the game yesterday was representative or not, maybe Gretna were trying something new or they're transitioning the team. All I can say is that they didn't look like a team from the league above. New manager has brought his own players in and apart from 1 who is club captain i'm yet to see anything from the other 8/9 new players that say we're better than last season, if anything we've gotten worse. The big number 3 is one of the worst i've seen at Gretna for a long time! Time will tell of course, but the next 6 games are pivotal!

I think there are 2 of us left on here that post anything lol. Your right about the committee etc, put anything negative on our facebook or twitter page and you practically get blocked (been blocked and unblocked on 2 occasions already) The people running the club don’t want to hear anything negative regardless of how the club has been run off and on the park. Unfortunately “on the park” seems to be worse this season, averaging 4/5 goals conceded per game, another humping today (to be expected to be fair) but the Star game last weekend was a big eye opener. Things can only get better as they say but a few of us will still be here regardless, the good times will come again...........i hope

Selkirk 0-8 Gretna Simply put........Did not see this coming after saturday’s shocker! Great response from the lads. Couldn’t make the game unfortunately & unlikely to see another match until September but a big confidence booster regardless of whatever bad times Selkirk are going through. Bit disappointed we failed to better EK’s result on Saturday though

He was a trialist on Saturday & despite a poor team performance he was one of our better performers, didnt play tonight though but i’ve heard nothing from the club on him signing.

Tommy has been a great servant to the club, its a great shame he gone from his role. I’ve no idea what happened personally, its an internal issue & i don’t have anything to do with the ins & outs. Last time i was at Raydale was last home game of last season, have been unable to attend any pre-season games, i’ll be there saturday though.

First time i’ve been on here in ages..........Should have much more updates on the goings on at Raydale this coming season. Couldn’t get to many games 2nd half of last season due to work commitments but that has fortunately changed. I have taken over the clubs twitter page & there are at least 2 more individuals helping out with the social media now. Looking forward to the season ahead. Good luck all!!!

Its a shame, we had a very good programme that Cicero used to produce, i myself put a couple of contributions towards it including a football quiz. Unfortunately the board/committee changed hands & the current people don't produce one. Very unfortunate as i took great pride in our programme & did plan on bettering it but it just wasn't to be.

I have to say i'm maybe biased but i thought the game of the day yesterday was at Raydale. The game is a local derby and was very much played like one too. Probably our best crowd of the season helped by the excellent travelling away support. We definitely deserved to be in front after a bright start and 2-0 just after half time was justifiable, but near enough straight after our second goal we switched off & let Dalbeattie back in the game, we conceded two very poor goals (the first was a good goal from Dalbeattie's point of view) both were defenders switching off & it looked as if we'd thrown the 3 points away, Dalbeattie really could have been in front themselves in the last 10 minutes with a header just wide where the lad really should have scored. It was thanks to a goalmouth scramble where we got our winner, Star failed to clear & Connelly managed to stab the ball home. A stramash in the goalmouth followed where Jack Hunter was shown a red but it was very difficult to see who committed what offence, Star saw red minutes later from an off the ball incident but to be fair the referee had lost the plot far earlier, needless yellows for nothing really and deserved bookings going unpunished, that was the only negative to the game though. Another good win for us though, those games are the ones we'd been losing or drawing previously so it was nice to get the win. A really good 7 out of 9 points in the last 3 games and could easily have been maximum points. Encouraging times under Irons & Aitken. A quick note, very enjoyable night had in the "wee bar" afterward with a very good turnout for the fundraising event. A free drink for everyone after the game & myself and a few others managed to win a free round of drinks after winning the football quiz put on after the game. The Snail racing was surprisingly popular & i managed to win a bottle in the raffle as well, although a very sore head today! All we need now is 3 points tonight!!!!!

Was unable to get to the game tonight due to other commitments but just saw the score, another cracking result 5-1 away albeit at Annan where i expected us to well anyway. Anyone that was there got a report on the game?

Good peformance yesterday from Gretna against a very good side in BSC. We almost handed BSC their first defeat of the season & that result would have been deserved, a very even first half i thought, they came out of the blocks 2nd half quickly & looked to be getting on top but their opening goal came against the run of play after a good 5/10 min bit of pressure from Gretna, I honestly thought this game would go a bit like the EK game a few weeks back & we would lose by a few but we showed great character to get a quick equaliser followed by taking the league shortly after. BSC got an equaliser shortly after hitting the post but it was a weak goal for Gretna to concede. Man of the match - Steven Black, thought he was excellent, we play an awful lot better with Blackie marshalling things at the back. Special mention to Wrighty in goals, replace an injured Jonny, no idea if this was just a short term replacement but very good to see him back after a few years away, played very well (although should have done better for their equaliser) but a very good showing. Been a tough few weeks but i'd fancy us to do well on Wednesday night away at Edu Sport, the game is at Annan so hopefully we can get a good crowd. Irons/Aitken have really turned this team around, we showed great belief and character throughout, incredible to think this is pretty much the same team that were so shambolic in the first 2 games of the season!

Was at work last saturday so didn't see the game but was told Gretna battled to a 1-0 win. Good to see a bit of organisation & that i believe was the second consecutive home clean sheet. Not working this weekend so looking forward to the game this weekend, not confident we'll win against EK but far more optimistic we'll give them a good game.

Thought i would start this as other teams seem to have one but we don't have anything recent. Gretna won 6-1 away at Whitehill today & what a result that is! Only followed via Welfare's twitter but sounds like we were once again superb (coming back from 1-0 down also) I was at the game on Wednesday & have to say its the best performance i've seen from us at Raydale in a good 12 months. Irons & Aitken need to be commended for the transformation of the team in the last month, No idea what Henney was playing at but if you'd seen us in pre-season & at home to Civil in the 1st game of the season you would see why i'm so impressed! Glad to see the back of the old boss. Not getting carried away but i honestly thought we'd do well to stay up this season but now top half/mid table sounds much more realistic. Hopefully attendances pick up in the coming weeks, they certainly will if we keep improving like this.