Don’t let Gretna die
Last updated 12:32, Thursday, 08 May 2008
FANS campaigning to save Gretna from extinction will today meet administrators to demand they do everything in their power to make the troubled club attractive to potential buyers.
Four members of the influential Gretna Supporters’ Society action group will meet joint administrators David Elliot and Lisa Hogg as they step up the fight to prevent the club going to the wall.
Administrators this morning faced a grilling from the club’s creditors after Gretna were placed into administration in March with debts of nearly £4 million.
Former manager Rowan Alexander is claiming £800,000, HM Customs and Excise are demanding £136,292 and the Inland Revenue is owed £439,762.
Carlisle City Council is owed more than £2,000 and the University of Cumbria – the setting for the club’s now defunct youth academy – is claiming £74,000.
Former players James Grady and Martin Canning are also among 139 individuals and businesses who claim they are owed money following the collapse of financial affairs at Raydale Park after owner Brooks Mileson ended his backing.
The fans’ action group is hoping a new buyer can be found but is seeking assurances that Sheffield-based administrators Wilson Field, who have already run up a bill of more than £250,000, are doing everything to make the stricken club an appealing proposition for a potential new owner.
Action group secretary, Cumbria-based author Anton Hodge, and fellow members Craig Williamson, Pete George and Malcolm Dunn, were due to have talks this afternoon with administrators at a hotel in Gretna Green.
Hodge said: “The role of the administrator is to rescue the company as a going concern and we are seeking assurances that he is preparing the club for a possible new buyer.
“His main duty is to get it running and sustainable, and we want some reassurance that he is doing all he can to rescue the club for his fee of £206 an hour.
“He has to get the club into shape so a buyer will find it attractive.
“We will be asking him to ensure he is making all information available to potential purchasers.”
Alexander, who was sacked in November after the club claimed he was guilty of seven acts of gross misconduct, made a surprise appearance at the creditors’ meeting.
