Football agent closes in to save stricken Gretna

By Amanda Little

Last updated 05:34, Friday, 16 May 2008

GRETNA chairman Ron MacGregor admits he is more optimistic than ever that the stricken club will be saved at the 11th hour.

Paul Davies: Late bid

Glasgow football agent Paul Davies is close to buying the club, which was plunged into administration in March following a financial crisis sparked by owner Brooks Mileson withdrawing his backing following an illness.

The Cumberland News understands Davies will make a last-ditch bid to buy Gretna today – 24 hours before they were due to receive a winding-up order.

If the deal can not be struck, the administrators controlling the debt-ridden club’s affairs will padlock the gates on Monday and issue the few remaining staff and players with redundancy notices.

MacGregor has been working closely with Davies – the son of Gretna stadium security chief Ken Davies – and the Glasgow businessman’s takeover is also being backed by the influential Gretna Supporters’ Society.

Dumfriesshire MP David Mundell has also joined the fight to save the club and this morning met Scottish Football League chief executive David Longmuir to discuss the club’s future.

MacGregor said: “It is going to go right to the wire, but I am guardedly optimistic that the club will survive.

“I would be very, very sorry if this bid, which has been worked on with great deal of attention, didn’t succeed and there were all the consequences that would go with that.

“It has been very stressful but we can’t get away from the tragedy with Brooks, who has had a brain infection and is facing more tests.”

Mundell met with the SFL this morning to try to ensure that should a credible bid be made for the club, the process of rejoining the Scottish Football League would be made simple.

Gretna are in limbo following their relegation from the SPL as they would be rejoining the Scottish Football League under new ownership.

Mundell said: “I want to see Gretna re-admitted to the SFL. There is local support for the team, as personified by the supporters’ association, and people want the club to carry on playing in the SFL.

“I want to make sure the SFL understand there is support locally for Gretna continuing – the team was successful in the football league before and there is no reason to suggest that can’t happen again.

“Fans should not be punished and should not lose their football club playing in a competitive football league because of what happened behind the scenes, providing the league is satisfied with any new financial arrangements.’’

If a deal is agreed, the newly-formed creditors’ committee, made up of five individuals owed money by the club, will vote on whether to accept the offer.

The creditors’ committee is made up of the SPL, the Inland Revenue, Dumfries architect Alastair Barron who designed the new ground and Cumbrian businessmen Maurice Watson and Malcolm Dunn.

n Football fans have been cashing in on Gretna's crisis - by selling copies of Tuesday night's match programme on the internet.

The £2 souvenir programmes from what could be the club's last-ever game were snapped up within half an hour of going on sale and are now selling for up to £20 on ebay.

Only 500 were printed and one collector bought 20 copies outside Motherwell's Fir Park stadium.

Gretna have ordered a reprint after disappointed fans missed out.