Mileson: we will continue to build

MARTIN GREIG May 10 2006

The novelty value of a Scottish Cup final without one of the Old Firm should not be under-estimated, but neither should it be interpreted as a flash in the pan. Gretna v Hearts. Brooks Mileson v Vladimir Romanov. Two men intent on ensuring their respective clubs' upward mobility is not ephemeral.

Hearts' defeat of Rangers in the 1998 Scottish Cup final was a moment in time, a landmark in the club's history.

If Romanov has his way, a successful outcome on Saturday will be the platform for much greater achievements.

Mileson, meanwhile, referred to Romanov recently as his "new best friend" and the two have been attempting to arrange an informal meeting for the past month. Similarly, the Gretna owner's ambition is for the club to operate at a much higher level.

The prospect of victory on Saturday also presents the unusual occurence of the club generating some money of their own, possibly as much as £1m.

The anticipation of money actually being deposited into his account is, indeed, a novelty for the free-spending millionaire who is intent on putting a proper infrastructure in place at Gretna.

"Obviously it's great to see money coming in from sources other than me," said Mileson. "It means I've got more to p*** up against the wall here! At the moment what we've got is a team without a structure and we are trying to build a structure around the club.

"Hopefully, in a few years time when we've got a proper stadium, and hopefully are competing to get into the top flight, it'll mean we can bring in more players.

"In three or four years we may be in the Premierleague and the club will be less reliant on me than they are now." While it may be too much to ask for the club to be self-sustaining in the near future, Gretna have ambitions to produce their own players over time. A wide-ranging youth development system is in place and they will consciously try to lower the age profile of the squad as they bid to make their way in the first division next season, and in Europe.

"We will carry on building this club, regardless of Europe, in the same way," said Mileson. "Obviously, we are in the first division next year and I'm not naive, neither is the gaffer, to think we will have the same success next year. We have players who we will hopefully get another season out of, but there will be a rebuilding process.

"Hopefully we can bring in some really good quality young players. We will be looking further afield for top quality 19-year-olds, although that will be down to the gaffer. There is only one gaffer at this club."

Central to the Gretna story has been the close bond between Mileson and manager Rowan Alexander. The two are contrasting personalities, but the mutual affection is obvious. Mileson believes that his manager's achievements are obscured by the focus on how much money is spent on wages.

"Rowan Alexander does not get the credit for what he has done here," he argued. "We have bought one player, Steve Tosh, for about 20 grand. Everyone else was free transfers or were offered one-year contracts. We have also brought in young players with a view to next year.

"What we have done is give our players stability, security for them and their families, and a lot of them will stay with us and go on to the coaching staff. There are too many good people who go out of football, but a lot of our players will be staying with us."

As for his "new best friend", Mileson was effusive in his praise of what Romanov has achieved in such a short space of time at Hearts. "I met him at the BBC awards dinner last year when we got team of the year and he asked to meet me.

"He asked me to go to the Hearts v Celtic game but I could not make that so we are going to rearrange. I thought he was a charming man.

"We have actually built quite a good relationship with Hearts over the past two or three weeks and I tremendously admire what the man is doing over there. It's incredible."

Taken from the Herald