Mileson’s sad Gretna legacy
Last updated 13:20, Wednesday, 19 March 2008
IF Brooks Mileson ever gets round to writing his autobiography, there could be only one title: My Way.When Mileson first became involved in football, he was a refreshing presence who was prepared to shake up the Scottish game and challenge the way Celtic and Rangers hog both the headlines and the glory.
From the moment he drove his Aston Martin through Gretna’s pot-holed, puddled car park in 2003, the pony-tailed maverick was determined to run the club on his terms.
Now, as everyone speculates as to why he has apparently turned his back on his once-beloved team, only Mileson knows the real reason why he has been forced to leave players, coaches and staff in the lurch.
Administrators now controlling the affairs of the closure-threatened club sent one last-ditch plea to its owner, recovering at home after an illness, to ask for his help in their moment of need.
It was declined.
What a terrible pity that Mileson’s dream of glory, which fuelled Gretna’s fairytale journey from the Scottish Third Division to the SPL and took in a Scottish Cup Final appearance at Hampden and qualification for the UEFA Cup along the way, has had such an unhappy ending.
Considering the money, time and love he lavished on the Borderers, it’s a shame he wasn’t able to wait until the end of the season before announcing the end of his generous bankrolling of the club, rather than pulling the plug with nine games left.
Even those who have been closest to Mileson are bewildered why Gretna were taken to the great heights ... and then spectacularly dropped.
Maybe he privately feels he no longer has the good health needed to sustain ongoing day-to-day involvement in the club and, that being the case, his reasons for funding it are obsolete.
If that is so, he should have said so publicly.
His absence has also exposed the grim reality that this is a club built without solid foundations, which has provided no lasting tribute to the millions he ploughed into it.
Mileson’s vision for the club included a shiny new stadium capable of hosting top-flight football and boasting facilities which could be used by the wider community to help the club become more sustainable.
He also wanted a strong squad of first-team players and a thriving youth policy to create a conveyor-belt of home-grown talent.
He was also prepared to spread his net in other areas by sending coaches out into the community and also supporting a drug rehabilitation scheme.
Leaving behind a club like that should have been his legacy – a lasting reminder of his vision, hard work and financial backing.
There was supposed to be a happy-ever-after for Gretna even beyond his lifetime.
Instead, his legacy is a trail of unfulfilled dreams; unpaid players, coaches and staff feeling confused and let-down and a ramshackle stadium in a worse state than it was in their non-league days.
Very rich, powerful businessman often think they are indestructible but given the number of health scares Mileson has had in recent times, it’s surprising that he made no provision to safeguard the future of the club and the employees who are now out of pocket and struggling to meet mortgages and bills.
He spent money with wild abandon, signing SPL players like Steve Tosh and David Bingham for a Division Three team, financing luxury training breaks at venues used by the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea in La Manga and Austria, paying top-notch wages and providing a fleet of nice cars.
The players and coaches kept their side of the deal by winning an unprecedented three successive championships and becoming the smallest British club to reach a major cup final.
But Gretna’s success has turned out to be all superficial, with no lasting roots to guarantee their survival once Mileson was no longer around.
Many people predicted it would end in tears because a football club from a village with a population of less than 3,000 would be unsustainable in the SPL without a rich sugar daddy.
Gretna are skint, in administration with 10 points deducted, about to be relegated (if they survive, that is) and players are not being paid, while their rich benefactor is conspicuous by his absence.
How sad that this is Mileson’s legacy to football.
