Jump to content

The Pelé Podcast - Andy Graham


Recommended Posts

Whilst there may well be no crime involved, it was obvious to all and sundry what direction Gretna were headed; A village outfit with a maximum of 200 fans, a crumbling stadium with plans to go up through the leagues. This was rivaled at the time by an Airdrie bid, where all footballing debts accrued by Airdrieonians would have been paid off, with a modern state of the art stadium and a >1500 fan base.

The reason the Airdrie bid did not succeed was that the league did not want to start a precedent of clubs going bust then reforming. How's that worked out? Gretna - bust. Rangers - bust, reformed and readmitted without so much as a by-your-leave.

It's a bit rich for fans of clubs who voted for Gretna - then voted to admit Rangers - to complain about those clubs outbidding their own for players.

Just my opinion obviously.....

An opinion which isn't remotely a result of bitterness or a baseless sense of injustice, obviously.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whilst there may well be no crime involved, it was obvious to all and sundry what direction Gretna were headed; A village outfit with a maximum of 200 fans, a crumbling stadium with plans to go up through the leagues. This was rivaled at the time by an Airdrie bid, where all footballing debts accrued by Airdrieonians would have been paid off, with a modern state of the art stadium and a >1500 fan base.

The reason the Airdrie bid did not succeed was that the league did not want to start a precedent of clubs going bust then reforming. How's that worked out? Gretna - bust. Rangers - bust, reformed and readmitted without so much as a by-your-leave.

It's a bit rich for fans of clubs who voted for Gretna - then voted to admit Rangers - to complain about those clubs outbidding their own for players.

Just my opinion obviously.....

Obviously. Baseless, however, no.

The facts remain.

Mileson wasn't in charge of Gretna when they were admitted to the league were they? Struggle to see to anyone who it was "obvious" to anyone how it was going to go.They finished 6th in there first season in the 3rd.

I'd imagine that Airdrie weren't admitted for precisely that, having pissed away money they didn't have other teams in the league were sceptical about letting them back in, in hindsight was the decision to let Gretna in correct? Definitely not, at the time though the reasoning was sound.

And no one liked the idea of Rangers coming back, was always going to happen though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't see how the decision to let Gretna join wasn't correct at the time, anything to suggest if Gretna wasn't in the league Brooks wouldn't have tried the same with another Scottish club?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mileson wasn't in charge of Gretna when they were admitted to the league were they? Struggle to see to anyone who it was "obvious" to anyone how it was going to go.They finished 6th in there first season in the 3rd.

I'd imagine that Airdrie weren't admitted for precisely that, having pissed away money they didn't have other teams in the league were sceptical about letting them back in, in hindsight was the decision to let Gretna in correct? Definitely not, at the time though the reasoning was sound.

And no one liked the idea of Rangers coming back, was always going to happen though.

As I said previously, Airdrie were not admitted due to the league not wanting to set a precedent. Any scepticism about the admitting Airdrie would have been nullified by the bond that was voluntarily put forward by Ballantyne to repay all outstanding footballing debts.

On the Rangers issue, the same chairmen who didn't admit Airdrie, bent over backwards to allow Rangers in without the due process we went through. Irrelevant whether it was always going to happen, those clubs chose to not set a precedent with us, but did the exact opposite of that with Rangers. It's fairly obvious that Airdrie fans should feel hard done to there!

My point was that some clubs chose to vote these guys in, whining when the consequences come home to roost is a bit rich.

I don't see how the decision to let Gretna join wasn't correct at the time, anything to suggest if Gretna wasn't in the league Brooks wouldn't have tried the same with another Scottish club?

That's your opinion, one which I wholeheartedly disagree with.

Gretna had always (perhaps with the exception of a few seasons IIRC) played in England. They had a fan base of under 200 and a crumbling ground. Airdrie had a new stadium in a large catchment area and were prepared to pay of outstanding debts to other league clubs of around £150k.

The choice made by the league at the time was to turf >1500 fans out of Scottish football, leaving a town with a massive white elephant stadium in favour of a village outfit.

Personally, I cant see how that was the correct decision.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Still, at least you're bothered about it... Comfortably over a decade later.

Said it before fella, you really should call a halt to your posts. You're thick as f**k.

It would have been a farce voting in Airdrie after everything that went on, It was a bigger farce allowing them to re brand Clydebank

Clearly unable (or more likely, unwilling) to understand any of my points. Electing a village outfit with no history of playing in Scottish football was deemed preferable to shunting >1500 paying fans out of Scottish football leaving a town with a unusable monument to the stupidity of the SPL's stadium criteria.

I'd wager your opinion is heavily weighted by your perception of us as "hu*s without the busfare". Pointless arguing with you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Said it before fella, you really should call a halt to your posts. You're thick as f**k.

Clearly unable (or more likely, unwilling) to understand any of my points. Electing a village outfit with no history of playing in Scottish football was deemed preferable to shunting >1500 paying fans out of Scottish football leaving a town with a unusable monument to the stupidity of the SPL's stadium criteria.

I'd wager your opinion is heavily weighted by your perception of us as "hu*s without the busfare". Pointless arguing with you.

You'd lose that wager.

At the time Gretna being voted into the league was sound. Regardless of them being a "village outfit" they didn't have a history of financial mismanagement, they deserved a chance like every club does.

Airdrie being elected would have simply been a farce. Not as big as the Clydebank rebranding mind

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You'd lose that wager.

At the time Gretna being voted into the league was sound. Regardless of them being a "village outfit" they didn't have a history of financial mismanagement, they deserved a chance like every club does.

Your own club was once synonymous with financial mismanagement, coming withing 24 hours of going bust. If every club who were driven into debt by callous owners were chucked out, there wouldn't be much of a league.

I've outlined my points quite clearly. You've countered with nothing. That'll be my last on this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hardly any crime involved in that. At the time, there was nothing to suggest they were going to embark on some unsustainable nutty programme to massage an unwell man's ego.

You should have gotten off your cross about dealing with an overspending local rival though. Queen of the South voted for Gretna because they didn't expect that they'd be a rival to them - when Gretna went on to spend money they didn't care about and outperformed you; they didn't give a f**k about your team anyway.

At the time Gretna being voted into the league was sound. Regardless of them being a "village outfit" they didn't have a history of financial mismanagement, they deserved a chance like every club does.

Well no, no it wasn't - Gretna weren't the only side outside the professional leagues looking for a place: Annan have entered since and have done well; Edinburgh City will likely do similar if not better when they step up. Edinburgh City and Cove Rangers lost out on that league vote and were more credible options compared to some ramshackle village outfit.

It's the equivalent of letting 'Broomhill' into the current Lowland League; an embarrassing error that needs to be corrected.

Edited by vikingTON
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your own club was once synonymous with financial mismanagement, coming withing 24 hours of going bust. If every club who were driven into debt by callous owners were chucked out, there wouldn't be much of a league.

I've outlined my points quite clearly. You've countered with nothing. That'll be my last on this.

Ah, thanks for confirming you have very little knowledge regarding the takeover in 94.

Of course we know a Celtic didn't go bust. Pointless comparison as Airdrie did.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FF - I'm still waiting in regards to your Jocky Scott piece from 2 year ago! :P

Onto the podcast - Some eye opening comments by Irons, that being said, Jim Duffy has never stricken me as being a 'yes man', far from it. He's a terrible manager, but 'yes man', genuinely shocked at that if Irons comments from his own time in charge are true.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's no other logical (though that's never entirely the case) reason for Duffy winning out as the least qualified and least credible of Rae's mediocre, but better than Duffy shortlist for the job - he's another McInally-esque puppet; there's little doubt that Rae signed MacDonald and Tidser over that slaphead's worthless opinion in January.

NB: I suspect that any figure from that Dundee period will have been circling wagons around their role in the disaster ever since.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You should have gotten off your cross about dealing with an overspending local rival though. Queen of the South voted for Gretna because they didn't expect that they'd be a rival to them - when Gretna went on to spend money they didn't care about and outperformed you; they didn't give a f**k about your team anyway.

Eh?

What's your point here?

Gretna were voted in at a time when nobody had any idea about how crazily the whole thing would develop.

They did become a rival to us in a way we couldn't have foreseen, but ultimately,the situation actually benefited us.

I think that my club has provided far better grounds for an attack over its voting behaviour since.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They weren't a rival to you; they didn't give a shit about you, ever. The tedious rattle-wavers are still perched on their cross because of a dead club though, which is tragic.

Seriously, what are you on about - "perched on their cross"?

This was a decent discussion until you came out with your tired old nonsense.

Edited by Monkey Tennis
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

A big well done to FF for the interview, it was a really enjoyable listen. Although I get the feeling that Irons wouldn't have taken much persuading to spill his guts on everything. Just out of curiosity, is there anyone who hasn't stabbed him in the back?

I enjoyed his bit about Morton the most, very juicy indeed. I've always wondered why Morton have perennially underachieved given the fruits of the Inverclyde sweetie industry, however the interview points towards a self-entitled control freak more intent on halting progress on his own terms than watching the club progress through the achievements of others. The word "narcissist" noted earlier in the thread seems awfully apt.

Are Morton fans generally happy with his tenure or do they have little choice but to plod along with him as long as he keeps the club afloat?

Edited by fraser_smfc
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...