GRETNA RESIGN FROM SFL

[BA]

I have to admit that I feel sorry for Gretna fans!!

they will have to find a new team!!

They will all join another team's bandwagon. It's the dozen or so who followed them in the Ryman's League that I feel sorry for, you've just got to wonder where the 12000 fans who were at Hampden have disappeared to.

[RiG]

They will all join another team's bandwagon. It's the dozen or so who followed them in the Ryman's League that I feel sorry for, you've just got to wonder where the 12000 fans who were at Hampden have disappeared to.

Back to the other teams they support. A few ICT fans went down to that final. It gave a lot of fans the chance to take in a Final at Hampden which their own team might not get a chance to participate in.

Oh, they are nearing death - hurrah!

"No longer in existance"

[SMEE]

Well folks, its official, Gretna are out of the Scottish Leagues. They withdrew this morning. Wonder if they will take someone new in?

[caley100]

They will have to!  keep the numbers even.  odds on its Spartans, see they are building a new stadium.

[RiG]

SMEE - just merged your topic in with your old one to keep it all together  :003:

Finally the saga is over and yet the man who killed the club has escaped with minimal criticism. Shocking.

Spartans have a new ground all ready to go so in that aspect they are one step ahead of the others.

[Seven]

Sad News, but was expected. :(

I do hope Spartans take their place though!

[Scotty]

Seems the early candidates are

Spartans

Annan Athletic

Preston Athletic

Cove Rangers

I would guess at spartans being the early favourites. dont know much about Annan (other than we humped them in the cup once) or Preston but can see Cove losing out because the members may feel the highland league has had their fair share in the last 15 years with ICT, County, Elgin, Peterhead all moving to SFL or SPL.

[alimci]

Preston have a somewhat unusual home page:

clicky

[Actually it's a for sale domain, on closer inspection, but I think they need to buy it before the SFL take a look]

[starchief]

I hope it's not Spartans.  Who needs another team from Edinburgh?  How well did Meadowbank do?  I know Spartans have more history but not that much support.  Where are Preston from?  I know East of Scotland League but not quite where (Prestonpans?).  Annan I guess would be the most 'community club' out of these? Though QoS isn't too far away.

[Scotty]

I just hope that whoever gets in presents a viable and seemingly realistic vision of how they will do and has the infrastructure to back it up without going bust ..... and that the SFL/SFA scrutinise each bid carefully

In articles over the last few days one mentions that there would need to be ground improvements for one of the teams to even get into the league, Spartans I think are in the process of building one, and Cove would need to do what ICT did and move from their existing ground to a new stadium .....

[Kingsmills]

The problem is that the league and Gretna's administrators have dithered sp long that they haven't left much time for that process to be carried out.

[alimci]

Just found Annan - map

I guess Gretna's six supporters could tag along, but I would have thought the problems would be the same, that most people in the area would support QoS or Carlisle.

[Kingsmills]

There are no clearly outstanding candidates. I suspect that Spartans may be admitted as the best of a bad bunch.

[Scotty]

The problem is that the league and Gretna's administrators have dithered sp long that they haven't left much time for that process to be carried out.

Not so sure about that ..... most of these teams have quietly being preparing a bid for several months ... just hope the football authorities look closely at what they have put together and choose the team that they think will be best able to sustain themselves. On the face of it, these 4 teams seem to be reasonably organised ... Spartans and Annan are both regular Scottish Cup teams, Cove as we know came into the HFL and have done pretty well, only Preston are an unknown entity (to me at least).

[Kingsmills]

I'm sure many of the potential candidates have prepared for some time. It's the state of preparation of the SFL to analyse and judge the bids competently in such a short timescale that concerns me.

[SMEE]

I hope they dont take Cove Rangers.......or any more teams from HL. Apart from anything else...I dont beliveve Cove have served their time in the HL to merit going into SFL

[MissICT]

Saw the report on North Tonight!!

looks like cove Rangers won't get the place!!

The SFL think that the HL have produced to many teams for the SFL!!

[ElderBoy]

surely it would make sense if cove did go up as they were the highland league champs ..... :024:

on other thoughts maybe a play-off

[MissICT]

I think they are going for it!!

But it's unlikely they'll get it!!

[hislopsoffsideagain]

In light of a) Scottish football's continued failure to implement a proper pyramid system, and b) the rather unimpressive candidates looking to replace Gretna, wouldn't be an idea to just not let anyone else in?  I know the odd number would be a little tricky, but I'm sure it would be workable.  Considering the less than impressive progress of Elgin City since joining, who are now destined to stay alongside East Stirling, Albion Rovers etc. as a side who do nothing but prop up division 3, shouldn't some effort be made to streamline the whole thing?

[Alex MacLeod]

Coves ground is not suitable though they have plans to play at a new community stadium planned for the area.

Spartans are in the process of building a new stadium that would be compliant

Annan I dont know too much about nor Preston

Apparantly Huntly have also decided to join the battle

[Scarlet Pimple]

So where do Cove play out of? i.e what town?

As for Gretna I have just read a good article about Gretna and the devastating effects the failure has had , and always will have, on the lives of many people close to /associated with the club. Everybody from cleaners to restaurant workers to simple administration staff who never saw this coming.

I think it will be very difficult now , especially in the light of Brooks Milesome's illness, to determine whether he or his family actually abandoned the club and the aforementioned workers to their fate, as in the "well, it's not personal, it's just business"syndrome, or whether in fact he and his family have gone bankrupt.

I doubt the latter very much indeed, even if the blame is laid at the door of his son rather than himself in his hospital bed whilst he was very ill--- the unmistakable stench of desertion is linkering as if the younger man had a greater cupidity for money than his dad, but the truth is that IMHO this was seen by the family as a whole to be a distinct possibility in the run up to the end and equally unmistakably plans were made to save the fortune whilst the common folk were abandoned to their fate.

The list of outstanding debts is long and daunting and some of the sums of money owed to them is large enough to be scary.Such that it is clear that little attempt was made, probably deliberately, so that any payments would be made not from the  family funds in the Bank(s) but from the eventual sale of Raydale park .

The conclusion of Pat Nevin, the writer of the article that I read, puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Milesome family AND on the SPL for ever allowing this to develop, because of the lax and inadequate financial tests applied to the likes of Gretna's entry into the ranks of the SFL.

I agree with his summary and his warning in the final segment to the effect that the SFL had better do something radical to ensure that this debacle and cruel outcome does not occur again in the foreseeable future or it will happen again.

If Milesome AND his family are not bankrupt  theh they should have met their obligatiuons to those who supported them.Period.

I know that was, and is, the right thing to do since I was in that position in a restaurant venture of my own which ended very badly in 1992 and which ultimately cost me my house (and my car-sob)  I escaped bankruptcy  but only achieved that by paying off all my debts in full because these people had supported me through the bad times and the Bank in particular had funded my operation to an extent which was probably (at least in hindsight) unmerited by the initial application for Credit and the subsequent results as they developed in a deteriorating situation.

But the main reason is that these suppliers of services had faith in my personal integrity and in some cases did not even ask me to pay them out and when that happens it is a heavy burden on your conscience which cannot be ignored. When you walk away you feel completely stunned  but can at least live with yourself even if it meant that I had to work until I was 70 to recover from the financial debacle. There is no pension when you are in business for yourself. :011:

[tm4tj]

Strangely enuff gudge, Cove Rangers play in Cove Bay at Allan park............RIG is our regular visitor I believe.

wikipedia Cove Bay

[Kingsmills]

Cove is effectively a rather uninspiring suburb of Aberdeen.

[RiG]

A good comparison of Cove would be Culloden in/just outside Inverness in terms of distance and also size. It is basically houses and a dodgy chip shop. Doonies Farm is nearby as well. That's as exciting as it gets for Cove really.

I think Cove have the money to upgrade but as already mentioned Spartans are ahead in that aspect. I am not sure where this new community stadium would be going although I guess it would be nearby the new dual carriageway they are building up to the Charleston flyover which is a site that Aberdeen had identified as well.

I am not sure if I agree with the comments about too many Northern teams getting in. Fair enough recent seasons has seen a influx of teams from the North but look how many teams in the Central Belt there already are. A couple more Northern teams to balance things out wouldn't be a terrible thing.