Mileson ready to use cup revenue to reward players

The millionaire will use some of the revenue generated from the occasion with Heart of Midlothian at Hampden Park to fund the Bell’s Scottish League second division champion’s bonus payments if they win.

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Mileson admitted yesterday that he had not even discussed bonuses with his team because they trust him and he will make his mind up on Saturday morning about how much they are to receive.

“To be honest, I have not even thought about how much money we will make,” Mileson said yesterday as he got to hold the famous old trophy when Gretna staged their cup final press day at Raydale Park. “The game could maybe bring in £1 million in revenue for the finalists, when you think about a 50,000 crowd and all the other things that go with it.

“It will be worth a bob or two. it will certainly help to pay the players’ bonus,” he smiled. “I never decide the players’ bonus until the last minute. I’ll get up at 5.30 am and feed my animals [Mileson runs an animal sanctuary] and then I’ll think about it. The players will have very good incentives, don’t worry. It just depends on how daft I am. They leave it to me. We have that kind of relationship. They got a substantial bonus for getting to the final and the lads know I will look after them.”

That is no idle boast. Mileson — the 42nd richest man in British football — has already offered his top striker, Kenny Deuchar, an Aston Martin if he nets the winning goal. However, Deuchar, who is also a doctor, felt that was too flashy and agreed to a Jaguar XJR as his prize, which would set Mileson back £80,000. Given that Deuchar’s goals knocked out St Mirren and Dundee in the last two rounds, it is not quite the long shot it seems.

Mileson’s relationship with his players and manager, Rowan Alexander, is in stark contrast to his counterpart at Hampden, Vladimir Romanov. The Lithuanian millionaire whose money has bankrolled Hearts’ progress to the Champions League next season and has put them within 90 minutes of their first silverware in eight years has sacked two managers this season and ostracised one of his top players, Andy Webster, over a refusal to sign a new contract.

Webster will probably be sitting in the stand at Hampden, just as he has for the past month. Mileson admits to an admiration for Romanov but would never use the Lithuanian’s divisive methods.

“No, I would never become ruthless,” Mileson said. “I run this club like my businesses and people are treated well. As far as I am concerned, Rowan Alexander is my partner here. We work together and I leave him to manage in his own way. It’s a good relationship.

“We are a small club who want to be a well-run community club and grow. However, I don’t operate like that [ruthlessly]. This life is about loyalty. There is too little of that in football. However, I have a lot of time for Mr Romanov. I met him at a BBC function last year and he was a charming man. We have built up quite a good relationship with Hearts since we both got to the final. I think what the man is doing at Hearts is incredible.

“Mr Romanov wanted to come down to met me and I planned to give him the tour of Gretna. We had it arranged for last week but he had to fly to Lithuania on business.”

Mileson believes his team — the first one from the third tier of Scottish football to reach the cup final — can grow even more but he tires of the label that Gretna have bought their way to two success.

“That pisses me off,” Mileson said. “Rowan does not get the credit he deserves. This cup final side has only had one player in it that we’ve paid cash for and that was £20,000 to Aberdeen for Steven Tosh. We have brought in Alan Jenks and Martin Canning [from Stranraer and Ross County] with an eye to next season.

“I want to see money coming into this club from other sources than me. Hopefully, in a few years’ time we will be a Premierleague club with a proper revenue stream and we will be less reliant on me than we are now. That would please my son who is worried I will have nothing left to leave him.”

Gretna, of course, will have one extra revenue stream not open to other clubs in the Scottish Football League — the Uefa Cup. Mileson’s side are already guaranteed a place in Europe after Hearts tied up Champions League football but the owner insisted that Alexander will not be spending money on players for that adventure just for the sake of it.

“We will carry on building this club regardless of the European ties,” he said. “We are not naive enough to think that we are going to have the same success in the first division next season as we have had in the last two years. Rowan wants to bring in younger players now and he is looking at quality 19-year-olds, from far afield, who want to be part of this.”

Certainly, there are plenty of people in the Borders who want to be part of it. Gretna — whose population is 2,700 — have sold 12,500 tickets for Hampden.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk