AS THE good ship Gretna lurches from crisis to crisis each week, any last vestiges of sympathy are being wrung from anyone who ever believed in the dream. There are of course feelings for Brooks Mileson the man because of his serious ill health and his likeable character, but for Brooks the businessman there will be precious little compassion around.
Each time a club crashes into administration I find myself tossed back into the period when I was at Motherwell and they went on a similar journey to save money. There were however differences in the two situations, for a start there was no point in
the entire saga when I felt that Motherwell FC was in serious danger of going under for good.
It was well documented at the time that I disagreed with the interim administration route and resigned on principle after working through the previous year slashing costs. Even then I had a buyer in place and ready to move before Bryan Jackson was appointed. Agreement couldn't be reached with the owners there and then, but I am convinced a deal would have been done if the club was actually on the brink of going out of existence.
All that hassle was painful enough to deal with but it was nothing compared with the pain and suffering of others. This is where the similarities between Gretna, Motherwell and any club that goes into administration are crystal clear.
We have read in the papers about the hardship suffered by the players whose contracts have not been honoured. Even though some were well remunerated over the years by a very generous owner, they have a right to feel aggrieved at being kicked out of their jobs at the start of what could be the deepest worldwide recession in generations.
Thoughts then turn towards other staff at the club who are in an even weaker position than the players. Everyone from the secretaries to the cleaners have not earned anything like the money the players have and many now find themselves suddenly out of work.
When I had to gather the staff at Motherwell and tell them the situation it was these people I felt most sympathy for. It was upsetting enough to see the girls crying; worse still was seeing the fear through the tears. Fear for an uncertain future when they had children, mortgages and bills to worry about as well as the torment of losing their respected place in the community.
Another group often ignored are those small businessmen owed money by the club who will never be paid back. They get a mention in passing but it might have taken decades for them to have honestly and diligently built up their small companies only to have them ruined overnight by 'a multimillionaire's romantic dream'.
If Brooks and his businesses have actually gone bust and all the money has gone, then there is less of a moral problem with letting people down and letting Gretna FC die, but if there is five or 10 million pounds squirrelled away somewhere then it is unacceptable. You often hear it said on these occasions that 'It isn't personal, it's just business.' Trying telling that to the folk who have lost everything they have worked for all their lives.
It was the same with the spivs in suits who tried to collapse HBoS a few weeks back, and in turn almost destroyed confidence in the entire banking system while they tried to make a quick couple of billion bucks. They would doubtless also have claimed it was "only business", while caring nothing for the millions of us who would have suffered in the fallout.
This may seem a long way from the SPL but the link is, who do we want running our football clubs?
I am convinced Gretna will not be the last club to go through this nightmare; there is absolutely nothing in place to stop it happening again and there are plenty of City boys and flush businessmen who crave the fame or simply want to 'enjoy the toy' without understanding their longer term obligations to the game.
The SPL has had its fingers burnt by the situation, having been forced to bail out Gretna once already. The clubs will be furious with this turn of events as they aren't exactly rolling in the green stuff themselves, but even they will be asking themselves 'what can we do to stop it happening again?'
Other sporting leagues have gone down the route of only allowing their members to spend a set amount on wages. A figure of 60% of turnover appears to be the agreed, sensible level that should be released to the manager to use in building a team. That is, of course, unfair on the likes of Celtic and Rangers who are also battling on European fronts most seasons, a totally different market that needs higher levels of finance.
The answer to this is that any monies that can be generated from wealthy benefactors, over and above the 60% of turnover, should also be made available to use on buying players, but only on condition that the money be lodged in a ring-fenced account before it can be spent and specifically it should not be loaned to the club. This would ensure clubs could not spend beyond their means however tempted they are.
Businessmen would claim this is naive, over-simplistic, not tax-efficient and even anti-competitive. I would argue that it would save football from overexposure to dangers it has managed to live without for over a century and it would secure these institutions from those who would callously or thoughtlessly use them for their own means.
We are regularly told that football clubs are only 'business', but they are in fact much more than that. They are part of our history and our culture. The clubs are often at the centre of our communities and engender a sense of belonging and shared desire. They can be beacons of national pride, as well as acute embarrassment on occasion if truth were told.
The SPL itself has been embarrassed this season and made to look foolish and amateurish more than once, though their biggest fault has usually been nothing more than failing to see what is crashing towards them from over the horizon.
Let me warn them now that, in the future, Gretna may be looked upon as a storm that had to be sailed through, but there is a tsunami waiting to strike unless action is taken now regarding those who are allowed to run some of our clubs.
The full article contains 1121 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
