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Another Scottish football team slipped into administration
and probably will eventually go out
of business as Gretna’s sugar
daddy, Brooke Mileston’s illness
resulted in the plug being pulled on
his fantasy football dream. Another
shambles created by our Football
authorities which makes our national
game look farcical.
The SPL made the decision in 2002 to deny Falkirk promotion
because our football ground was not
compliant. One of the rules I
disagreed with at the time was the
10,000 minimum all seated capacity.
This capacity was unrealistic and
resulted in clubs borrowing money to
upgrade their stadiums, a borrowing
which has burdened many clubs and
has seen them spiral from their
lofty heights in the SPL 4 or 5
years ago to First division status.
This capacity level was sensibly
reduced to 6,000 but the other
restrictions imposed on Falkirk
regarding ground sharing should have
remained in force, because allowing
Gretna to ground share with
Motherwell has been their death
knell.
It was ground sharing that partly led to the demise of
Clydebank and Airdieonians as their
fan base dwindled away and it was
the downfall of these two clubs that
allowed Gretna to enter the league
to replace them and now follow them
through the exit door. There is no
place in senior football for nomads
and the football authorities must
now learn from this.
Not only did the SPL allow Gretna to ground share, they
foolishly let them share with
Motherwell at Fir Park, renowned for
being a tattie field during the
winter months. It surprises me that
the football authorities didn’t
also schedule a CIS Semi final for
Fir Park as they did last season for
our match with Kilmarnock in that
same tattie field.
Football clubs in Scotland have lived above their means for
years. We as a club came very close
to going out of business and our
club is now managed more prudently
and sensibly, but our debt was not a
patch on clubs like Kilmarnock or
Hearts and several others who are
millions of pounds in the red. There
has to be a structure in place where
the total salary of players cannot
exceed a certain percentage of a
clubs income. When there is an
investment from a Sugar daddy like
in the case of Gretna paying SPL
wages to 3rd Division
players then the full investment
should be governed by the
authorities with the investment paid
up front. We cannot have another
club go to the wall because someone
decides to walk away leaving broken
promises, bills unpaid, players with
no wages and Scottish football
looking like a joke outfit.
If the SPL don’t act soon, then there will be further
embarrassment just around the
corner. Hearts have just announced a
debt of £32million which has
increased from last season.
Deducting points for clubs going
into administration must also be
looked at for clubs whose debt
increases each season. These debts
will eventually become unmanageable
if they continue to increase. The
assets of the Tynecastle squad and
the value of their land adjacent to
Gorgie Road will eventually not
cover their debt and cost of
relocating should it come to that
and they’re in cloud cuckoo land
talking of a £51million development
of their main stand.
However, in the case of Hearts I’m quite sure our
Football authorities would bend over
backwards to rubber stamp their
application to take the same route
as Airdieonians. A small club would
be bought over re-branded and moved
to the west side of Edinburgh and
they’d be debt free. It stinks,
the precedent was set when
Meadowbank Thistle were bought over
and moved to Livingston and it was
the cheaper option for Jim
Ballantyne when he purchased
Clydebank and paid off their debt
rather than pay off the debt of his
club Airdrieonians, so a move of
home and a change of name and hey
presto, the Diamonds are re-born.
This must never be allowed to happen again and rules must
now be put in place regarding debt
management. It always amuses me when
visiting fans chant “2 stands,
you’ve only got 2 stands,” maybe
we should reply with, “No debt, no
debt, no debt.”
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