A Greek Tragedy on Gretna Green
How a small club from the Scottish Borders flew too close to the sun.
Gretna is a small Scottish border town with a famous reputation as a romantic wedding destination for eloping English couples seeking relaxed marriage regulations under Scots law. Back in 2002, Gretna Football Club found themselves eloping across the border from the English junior leagues after being elected into the professional Scottish Football League.
A self made construction and insurance boss with “a heart as big as a dust bin” (The Independent) by the name of Brooks Mileson saw some potential in this latest addition to the Scottish football pyramid and became the owner who would lead Gretna Football Club on one of the most remarkable and rapid Cinderella stories in football history.
From 2004 to 2007, Gretna F.C would experience three consecutive promotions taking them from the Scottish Third Division to the Scottish Premier League and find themselves only a penalty shootout away from winning the 2006 Scottish Cup. Even more incredibly, Gretna reached this final whilst playing in the third-tier of Scottish football.
Players such as Colin McMenamin (23 goals in 38 games in 06/07) and David Bingham (30 goals in 54 games from 04 to 07) led the league goalscoring charts as Gretna romped through their divisions. James Grady, at the age of 35, would finish as the top scorer at the 2006 Scottish Cup. Perhaps the most iconic Gretna player of all, dubbed “The Good Doctor” by Sky Sports Soccer Saturday, was Dr Kenny Deuchar who topped the Scottish Football League goal charts with 38 goals during the 2004/05 season whilst practicing medicine part time at the local hospital.
Rowan Alexander, the manager of Gretna F.C during most of this meteoric run, had taken charge of the coaching duties when Gretna were still a non-league English side prior to their election to the Scottish Football League. His Scottish elopement with Gretna would see phenomenal results as they broke a league record with 98 points during the 2004/05 season with a +101 goal difference and knocking off more historic sides like St Mirren and Dundee on their way to an ultimately heart-breaking Scottish Cup final in 2006, where they lost to Hearts on penalties. Alexander, showing some of his eccentric personality, marked the significance of the occasion for Gretna by famously wearing a traditional Scottish tartan kilt for the final. At least finishing as runners-up in the Scottish Cup final provided the unique consolation of qualifying Gretna for the following year’s UEFA Cup.
The sky must have seemed the only limit for Gretna’s ambition after qualifying for European football. However, like Icarus, the signs were about to show that Gretna had flown too close to the sun.
Gretna’s European odyssey would end prematurely in the UEFA Cup second qualifying, losing to 7–3 on aggregate to Northern Irish side Derry City. In a sign of problems to come, Derry City beat Gretna 5–1 at Motherwell’s Fir Park as Gretna’s Raydale Park was too small and deemed unsuitable for European football. When Gretna were promoted to the Scottish Premier League in 2007, Raydale Park was again deemed insufficent and Gretna were forced to play all of their remaining home games at Fir Park until Mileson’s club infrastructure could catch up with his own success.
Disagreements emerged over Rowan Alexander’s health and capacity to manage the club and led to an ugly situation where Alexander was placed on gardening leave while his assistant, Davie Irons, attempted to guide Gretna through their remaining fixtures and achieve a third and final promotion from the Scottish First Division. Gretna’s 2006/07 promotion campaign would be their closest yet as they won the First Division by a single point thanks to an injury time winner on the final day of the season from James Grady.
The following 2007/2008 Scottish Premier League season should have been Gretna’s finest hour but instead became a year long nightmare as they fell into financial ruin due to Mileson’s failing health and this would ultimately prove to be the final season of Gretna’s brief professional history. Brooks Mileson had been the primary benefactor of Gretna F.C and without his income player wages couldn’t be paid and the club immediately fell into a terminal debt. This economic disaster for Gretna translated onto the results on the pitch. Gretna, after winning three straight league titles, didn’t win a game until September and were quickly found at the bottom of the table. Mileson finally withdrew all his financial support and Alexander was finally sacked. Davie Irons would resign not long after as Gretna were unable to pay their players any longer and went into administration which came with a 10 point deduction, effectively condemning Gretna’s status in the Scottish Premier League. Eventually, in scenes not seen then or since, Gretna made their entire playing squad and staff redundant and were forced to play youth players so they could complete their remaining fixtures and finish the season.
The catastrophic economic situation had a cascading effect on the attendance of the Gretna fans. An estimate of 12,000 fans had turned up for the 2006 Scottish Cup Final, which would be four times the current population of Gretna. However, by the end of the 2007/08 season, only 431 turned up to watch Inverness (a club only three years older than Gretna) beat the Gretna kids 6–1. This was a new record for low attendance in the Scottish Premier League.
The Greek tragedy of Gretna Football Club would come full circle with it’s final chapter. With no financial support and a crippling debt, Gretna F.C were relegated from the Scottish Premier League and were even unable to start all over again at the bottom of the Scottish Third Division. Gretna Football Club were liquidated in 2008 and Brooks Mileson succumbed to his failing health and died not long after.
Annan Athletic were elected to take the place of Gretna F.C in the Scottish Football League.
