Last updated 11:39, Wednesday, 04 June 2008

THE money was scattered like confetti around the anvil at Gretna Green.

Brooks Mileson: The Gretna owner was admitted to Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary in February

The lower divisions of Scottish football had never seen anything like it – a rich sugar daddy offering an open cheque book to transform a ramshackle club into a team of winners.

Suddenly the town most famous for its marriages was as well known for its football team, thanks to Brooks Mileson and his cash.

Few people would have predicted when Gretna took Hearts all the way to extra-time and penalties at the 2006 Scottish Cup Final that just two years later the Borderers would be dumped on the threshold of oblivion and that their rich benefactor would be conspicuous by his absence.

But as Mileson bankrolled their fairytale rise from the Scottish Third Division to the Scottish Premier League, their success created jealousy, suspicion and bad feeling throughout the Scottish game.

Maybe it was because of their background in English non-league football, but there was also simmering resentment that they were able to secure a place in Scotland’s top-flight when a foundation stone had not even been laid to re-develop their run-down stadium.

Promotion to the SPL should never have been allowed – for the integrity of the Scottish game and, as we’ve now discovered, for the sake of Gretna themselves who were unable to sustain top-flight football.

Assurances were given by the club that they would create a shiny, new stadium which would meet strict SPL ground criteria. . .but it never materialised, and that created justifiable hostility.

The Dumfries architect who drew up the plans for a new-look ground claims he’s still owed money for his efforts – and he is just one of the scores of people on the creditors’ list who are feeling let down by Gretna’s demise after Mileson pulled the plug on the club he spent a fortune on following an illness.

During his team’s incredible journey through Scottish football, winning an unprecedented three successive titles, reaching the Scottish Cup Final and qualifying for the UEFA Cup, Gretna drew plenty of admirers but won few friends.

The pony-tailed maverick at their helm had little regard for rules or tradition – and it stuck in the craw of Gretna’s rivals as the team battered their way through the leagues.

There’s a very good saying in life that you should be careful who you trample over on your way to the top – because you might need them on your way back down.

Last week Gretna’s chickens came home to roost when every single Scottish League club voted for the club, relegated from the SPL after one disastrous season, to be demoted to Division Three instead of Division One.

It signed their death warrant as a takeover by Glasgow agent Paul Davies depended on them playing First Division football so enough money would come through the turnstiles to generate some income.

In their hour of need, the door was slammed in Gretna’s faces.

The cold reality is that Gretna were never made entirely welcome in Scottish football, and the clubs who voted for the Borderers to be demoted to the Third Division should hang their heads in shame for kicking them when they were down.

In just five years, Gretna brought more to the party than East Fife, East Stirling, Forfar, Brechin City or Ross County have in their entire lifetime. . . and they attracted better gates than some of Scottish football’s lesser-lights.

Gretna scored 297 goals in three championship seasons, they brought some romance back to the game when they reached the Scottish Cup Final and played some entertaining football too, with players like David Bingham, Kenny Deuchar and Steve Tosh lighting up matches.

Mileson has not been seen in public since he was forced to withdraw his financial backing following his illness – and he has only himself to blame for the flak now flying in his direction.

Fans reckon the man who stood with them on the terraces has left them high and dry.

No wonder. There hasn’t been a word of communication from Mileson or his family since February, and their deafening silence has done them no favours.

Spending money with wild abandon created an artificial rush which could never be maintained.

Paul Davies should have been given a chance to save Gretna, return the team to Raydale Park and create a team which could have existed at a realistic level.

The gilt hasn’t even worn off the silverware and yet the ground is about to be flogged off and town won’t even have a team by the end of the week.

Fans are left with only tears for souvenirs.