posted Mar 14, 2008

I agree with some of the most recent postings. I have every sympathy for Milestone with his illness.

What I don't have sympathy for is the notion that a football club can be used as personal "toy" to amuse someone of wealth when they feel like it, and dropped like a stone to go to the wall when they aren't able or don't want to continue.

The SFA/SPL must put rules in place to prevent this sort of think in the future, otherwise our game becomes a laughing stock. Hearts would fold if Romanov withdrew, Dundee Utd if Thompson did, etc. Remember Livingston, Dundee?? It's not acceptable. Football clubs have to be able to operate within their means. When will this lesson be learned!

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posted Mar 14, 2008

"If everyone in Britain did that and passed it to poor countries, they wouldn't be so poor. But we don't.

Yet when it's a football club, we all feel like we have to do something.

Shameful really."

The government on our behalf already donates WAY more then £1 per person in this country to poor countries. The UK Government currently provides more then £1 per person in the UK (around £70 million) annually to Ghana alone.

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posted Mar 14, 2008

Davo

Clubs like United and Hearts would not likely fold in the respective owners left as you suggest. Both the afforementioned clubs are financially sustainable businesses. I agree United would not be in quite as good a state if Mr Thompson hadn't put his moeny in to help, we'd be languishing in the relegation zone where we've spent most of the last decade. We eould not likely be bankrupted or folded as you suggest. Hearts were deep into administration when Romanov came in and put in his money, but again, Hearts is a sustainable club and business. Yes they would have had to cut costs, pay off big earners etc and may not have much of a squad to speak of for a while, while financial security was rebuilt, but they would not have folded. Gretna is a different story altogether, Gretna has about 150 fans, They have no assets (unless you count Raydale which has the cash value of a mars bar) and no way to generate income they are not a sustainable business and should not under any circs be subsodised by the rest of the SPL teams to ensure survival.

Just for the record I dont want them to fold before the end of the season, I hope the adminstrators can bring the wage bill etc down to a sensible level and Gretna can fall down the leagues as quickly as they came up them back to their natural level again. I'm just tired of people saying they should be helped out by this source and that source. They got themselves into this mess!!

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posted Mar 14, 2008

Have they turned out the lights yet ... assuming that the still have electricity!

No sympathy here. They were billy bigb*lls on the way up, boasting, bragging, looking down their noses (and that includes their ex manager).

The shambles that is gretna is entirely down to mileson.

He has blamed everything on others, alexander, the local council, the SPL, Motherwell, the weather.

If he was happy to appear on TV, radio, in papers and magazines when he was telling everyone else in Scottish football how he had made a go of it when everyone else was getting it so wrong, he should be man enough to admit he has got it horribly wrong and say sorry.

I'm sorry that he's ill and I hope he gets better - so he can eat the large humble pie that's been waiting for him.

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posted Mar 14, 2008

Surely if Rangers are in danger of losing 3 points should Gretna fold, and thereby allow Celtic to overtake them, some rich, died in the wool bluenose will come up with the cash neede to get them through the season

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posted Mar 14, 2008

I’m sorry if Mark_WE resents the £1 he’s paid to Ghana. If it’s any comfort Mark, we rip far more off most poorer countries than we “donate”. Debt repayments are only the start. We bully them into not subsidising their farmers, but opening their markets to our own subsidised produce. Then we make sure they privatise their water … Mark, I think you’re getting your pound’s worth. Still it’s cheaper than killing them with bullets. (Sorry to trivialise your important football debate.)

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posted Mar 14, 2008

First of all: Komlanowke, go fry your political chips somewhere else, this board is for sports.

Secondly, this is a serious issue for Scottish Football so I will assume that all the assine "I'll play for free" comments are coming from south of the border?
There are some problems here:

(1) SFA look like a bunch of clowns. Again who is getting fired for letting this farce happen in the first place?

(2) If Gretna folds, there will be an impact on all teams who have played them and on the league standings. Have the other teams considered this?

(3) Players will lose their jobs.

(4) Grounds and game support people will lose their jobs.

On top of this, Scottish football is being held up to public ridicule.

Who is going to held accountable for this and what is their punishment??????

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posted Mar 14, 2008

Point taken, riteagain. You can check my earlier 606 comments – I know when it’s a sports board. (That’s why I’m reading it.) But Mark_WE changed the subject.

Of course, if Gretna folds, the world ends.

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posted Mar 14, 2008

"I’m sorry if Mark_WE resents the £1 he’s paid to Ghana."

My point was in response to a comment suggesting that if everyone in the country paid a pound to charity it would help world poverty - it wouldn't, as I mentioned we give more to just one country.

However, if everyone who attended a football game this weekend paid a pound it would probably be enough to see Gretna through to the end of the season. The £30,000 they need would be covered from a £1 donation from everyone attending an old-firm game.

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posted Mar 14, 2008

Now it seems Roddy Collins is heading a consortium to buy Gretna out. Somehow I think we've been here before... be afraid Gretna, be very afraid

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