Five years on, Gretna are beacon of hope rising from ashes of financial meltdown

FINANCIAL storms have assailed Scottish football, leaving some clubs battered and bruised.

The supporters of Dunfermline Athletic and Hearts await updates with trepidation. Kilmarnock fans are seeking to take control of their club in the wake of the dismissal of their manager and in a climate of heavy debt.

Yet on the day that Rangers went into administration in February last year, there was a move towards rehabilitation for another club. Gretna 2008 was compiling its formal application for an SFA licence.

As Scottish football agreed to build a pyramid system this week, the East of Scotland League Premier Division side are relishing the opportunity to work their way up from the bottom.

"The reconstruction of Scottish football is a good thing," says Craig Williamson, chairman of the Gretna Supporters' Society that runs the club. "It takes away the closed shop and it will be a healthy development for third division clubs. Sometimes you have to take a step back to take a step forward."

Williamson knows whereof he speaks. The insurance broker has a history with Gretna. He played for them in the under-18 league and then for the reserves in the Carlisle and District League. He followed Gretna as a fan before the collapse under Brooks Mileson.

The club, originally formed in 1946, slipped into administration and then bankruptcy after climbing from the third division to the Premier League.

After Mileson's death, the club was bequeathed a legacy of despair. Gretna. A new club was formed, wholly owned by the society.

"I sometimes believe we are held back by be being stuck with the name Gretna," Williamson says. "Some people can not differentiate between Gretna and Gretna 2008. We are sometimes tarred by the same brush.

He worries this misapprehension may count against the club as they seek a licence to play in the Lowland League, one of the innovations introduced by league reconstruction.

"We tick all the boxes," he says of the application. "We just have to wait to see if we are successful."

The club filed their fifth consecutive yearly accounts on May 31, so adhering to another condition for any successful licence application.

Williamson states: "We are run on simple lines. We never live beyond our means, we pay for our upkeep. No loans, no overdraft just a hard look at finances and we only spend what we generate ourselves."

It takes £65,000 a year to run the club, with Raydale Park now owned by a community partnership of which Gretna 2008 is a member. The club is run by a committee of 10 but relies on volunteers to perform maintenance work.

"Everyone is very supportive," Williamson says. "We have a small bar at the ground and it was repainted by fans. It is that sort of thing that keeps the bills down and allows the club to move forward."

So how do Gretna 2008 believe they can go? "The key is to be at a level where your resources can cope. The simple advice is to be the best you can, but within your means," Williamson says.

He admits the path back to existence has been difficult. "It has been the result of a lot of hard work by a lot of people," Williamson says. "You have to work hard to get the funds in, maximise every area of revenue."

The team's games attract an average of 150 supporters and they have just enjoyed a successful season under Kenny Brown, appointed manager last summer.

"We had only five players signed at the start of the season and the weather caused a huge backlog of fixtures," says Brown, who forged his reputation on the ability to help nurture clubs such as Northbank Carlisle. When Brown joined the Carlisle club, it had one playing side. He played an enormous part in setting up a successful youth section.

Brown was part of the management team at the birth of Gretna 2008 but left before returning as manager. He led the team to fourth place in the league and two cup triumphs. "We have made progress as a club every season," he says. 'The method of the club is to go forward carefully as far as finances [are concerned] but we are much better than when we started."

The next challenge is the Raydale Cup next month when Gretna 2008 will be joined by Wrexham, Stirling Albion and St Mirren for a knockout tournament played over a weekend.

Williamson is excited by the prospect of the Lowland League as it opens up a route back to the very top for Gretna 2008. The last incarnation at Raydale Park lost to Hearts in the Scottish Cup final of 2006.

The losers of that final no longer exist and the winners are fighting for their very life. There is an obvious lesson in the experience of Gretna 2008. Could the community-based model work for bigger clubs?

"Why not?" says Williamson. "The scale of Hearts is obviously much bigger than Gretna but this could work to their advantage. We have worked hard to galvanise the local support and the help of local businessman but obviously there is a lot more money in Edinburgh."

Where there is a community will, there can sometimes be a way. The vibrant existence of Gretna 2008 is a testimony to that truth.

Taken from the Herald