Gretna - Living (and dying) the Dream

[sjc]

23 minutes ago, Dunning1874 said:

At some point someone is going to enter this thread and say it was a shame because they only went under due to Mileson's health deteriorating. This is untrue: they stopped paying bills long before he was permanently hospitalised and were liquidated months before he finally passed away.

Hadn't power of attorney been passed to his family by then? Not disagreeing with your point. They were a bigger basket case than Sevco!

[Armand 2]

I have a number of memories of Gretna but one of the most prominent is getting to my seat at Firhill at 3:01 to find that we were already 2-0 down.

There was also the game at Firhill where we were getting pumped 3-0  heading into the final 10 minutes only to miraculously draw thanks to a last-gasp Graham Dorrans' goal.

They absolutely horsed us by six goals on two occasions from memory, and by four goals another time when I was standing beside Boab McCulloch who made his thoughts about Sean Kilgannon well known to most in the vicinity.

[Blootoon87]

The only game I remember us playing against them was beating them 4-2 at Balmoor in the third division, think it was in January and it was the coldest I've ever been at a football match. That was the year they won the league and we went up in second.

[ICTChris]

I know someone who was mates with one of the players Gretna signed when they were in the lower leagues - he was a part-time player and Gretna paid him £700 a week, paid all his petrol and travel and provided a car.  He also got a win bonus, which was basically guaranteed every week.  This was relatively early in the 'fairytale'.

I think one important point about Gretna, and to a slightly lesser extent Livingston, is that their rise revealed the weakness of a lot of the media coverage of Scottish football - the papers lapped up Brookes Mileson and Rowan Alexander's rubbish but fans knew what was going on.  No-one really asked any questions about it all and it clearly ended very badly.  In fact, a Morton fan on here started a thread about it, as he had been employed as an architect by Gretna to draw up plans for their eco-stadium but never got paid.  The thread he started was a better source for info on the collapse than most of the media.

 

[Skyline Drifter]

8 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

I know someone who was mates with one of the players Gretna signed when they were in the lower leagues - he was a part-time player and Gretna paid him £700 a week, paid all his petrol and travel and provided a car.  He also got a win bonus, which was basically guaranteed every week.  This was relatively early in the 'fairytale'.

I think one important point about Gretna, and to a slightly lesser extent Livingston, is that their rise revealed the weakness of a lot of the media coverage of Scottish football - the papers lapped up Brookes Mileson and Rowan Alexander's rubbish but fans knew what was going on.  No-one really asked any questions about it all and it clearly ended very badly.  In fact, a Morton fan on here started a thread about it, as he had been employed as an architect by Gretna to draw up plans for their eco-stadium but never got paid.  The thread he started was a better source for info on the collapse than most of the media.

 

That was Alibi. He still posts on here though I expect the thread itself is long gone.

[ICTChris]

2 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

That was Alibi. He still posts on here though I expect the thread itself is long gone.

It was a great thread, really informative.  I remember when they finally went under someone published the list of creditors and they obviously hadn't paid a bill for months, if not years.  

[RiG]

3 hours ago, LondonHMFC said:

Was a really odd atmosphere, and from memory there wasn't many Gretna fans there. I remember there being quite a few Inverness fans though seemingly chuffed to see County relegated.

We were playing Dundee United that day yet more ICT fans seemed to go to Dingwall to "support" Gretna rather than head to Tannadice. Embarrassing.

[Ranaldo Bairn]

We only played them the four times in the SPL, so no great rivalry.
I do remember my friend falling asleep and snoring audibly during a sunny spring day watching a 0-0 with them.
My brother is a St Johnstone fan, though, and visibly pales when their name is mentioned.

[smpar]

3 hours ago, DA Baracus said:

We have a 100% record in competitive games against them, although I have no idea how, as we were battered in a League Cup game at Raydale that we very luckily won 0-1. Bryn Haliwell made a number of great saves and they missed a load of chances. Mark Burchill scored for us.

I thought his nickname was 'The Good Doctor'? Also why were you at the FA Cup Final instead of seeing your team lift the Scottish Cup?

His username is LondonHMFC, fairly certain that's a West 'am player in his profile photo as well. Must have been a fucker for both of his team to reach their national cup final on the same day.

[smpar]

27 minutes ago, Ranaldo Bairn said:

We only played them the four times in the SPL, so no great rivalry.
I do remember my friend falling asleep and snoring audibly during a sunny spring day watching a 0-0 with them.
My brother is a St Johnstone fan, though, and visibly pales when their name is mentioned.

Out of curiosity, why do your brother and you support different teams?

[JamesM82]

The bromance that developed between Romanov and Mileson (or Hearts & Gretna more generally) before the cup final was boak-inducing. Made it quite pleasing when Hibs skelped them in both cups the following season.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_cups/4764957.stm

[Ranaldo Bairn]

21 minutes ago, smpar said:

Out of curiosity, why do your brother and you support different teams?

We were both born in Falkirk. But I am a wee bit older, and when we moved to Perth I was too far gone to change teams, while he was still pretty young and took up with the Perth Saints as (happily) nearly all his pals at school followed SJ.

I quite like it actually; it gives you more things to talk about and a different perspective sometimes.

Golden shared memories include the Simon Stainrod half way line goal in 1991...

[RandomGuy.]

We only played them the four times in the SPL, so no great rivalry.
I do remember my friend falling asleep and snoring audibly during a sunny spring day watching a 0-0 with them.
My brother is a St Johnstone fan, though, and visibly pales when their name is mentioned.

To some, Gretna are still the club we hate the most. An absolutely horrendous club who looked down on everyone as they started to believe they were loved by the whole country. They should never have been allowed in the top flight, as their fire sale in the January before promotion was the first solid indicator I can remember that they were virtually already dead.

[ICTChris]

Remember when Rowan Alexander turned up for their first SPL game but was locked out of the stadium?

[Bluegrass Bairn]

Probably the most notable point to the whole Gretna circus was how they managed to become the most reviled club in the land  outwith the  OF in such a short space of time.  Took some doing, but entirely merited.   

Personally, I would wish any other team in Scotland to win when they play the Govan rabble - yup, even Dunfermline - yet tellingly when Gretna were up against them I could only bring myself to hope for a draw, that way neither of them get the win...

[7-2]

Talking of Gretna and ultimate Scottish embarrassments...

[7-2]

Mind you Googling Rowan Alexander isn't all bad...

[senorsoupe]

The first decade of the 2000's was an interesting time in the history of Scottish football.  Lots of sketchy owners like Mileson, Romanov, and Murray in the process of ruining their clubs.  

[Guest]

Losing 4-0 to a Gretna team full of top flight players at Raydale in atrocious conditions was always one of the most sickening experiences as a Clyde fan (there's been many more since). Their arrogance towards us, and everyone else was very unpleasant. Beating them 2-0 at Broadwood the season after in a 1st Division game was one of the pleasing games I've ever attended.

Had no sympathy for them when it started going wrong and I revelled in the schadenfreude of seeing them fail.

The Club that Vanished that Sky made a few years ago was intriguing to watch even if it was a bit over complimentary and completely over played the non existent fairytale.

Getting Annan as their replacement has been great, a better away day at a far better ground. If Brooks hadn't been so deluded it could still have been Gretna and no one would think anything of it.

[Blackbirdonthewire]

1 hour ago, senorsoupe said:

The first decade of the 2000's was an interesting time in the history of Scottish football.  Lots of sketchy owners like Mileson, Romanov, and Murray in the process of ruining their clubs.  

Let us not forget Hugh Scott.