Farewell Gretna?

[Lisbon67]

Looks like they're not the only ones in trouble

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Sto ... 67,00.html

[lbb]

Hearts' owner, Vladimir Romanov, has spent lavish sums on paying players

Has he?

Tynecastle's main stand is undergoing a £51m redevelopment.

Is it?

At least one can see the method of Romanov's madness - Edinburgh property prices being what they are. Mileson, though, I don't understand.

[Scottish]

It's okay, the cheque's in the post

[StAndrewsHMFC]

I'm no Vlad fan, but sometimes journalists just annoy me.

Are they really suggesting that a football club with assets of at least £20m and a turnover of somewhere around £10m would get wound up over a pettion for £13.5k. Reguardless of what the liabilites to Ukio and Ubig are thats just ignorant or lazy journalism.

Still 3rds went over £40k or something like that didn't they.

[lbb]

Did I read it correctly that one option the SPL are considering is going ahead with relegation even if Gretna go under? This could mean St. Mirren or Kilmarnock going down and the league proceeding with 11 teams next year. Is this true or just bad journalism?

The SPL and SFA need their heads knocked together (copyright, Margo MacDonald). Listening to Radio Scotland yesterday, not even David Begg or Richard Gordon were certain about when Celtic will play Aberdeen and Rangers will play Partick Thistle.

This season is quickly descending into farce.

[Skyline Drifter]

The SPL and SFA need their heads knocked together (copyright, Margo MacDonald). Listening to Radio Scotland yesterday, not even David Begg or Richard Gordon were certain about when Celtic will play Aberdeen and Rangers will play Partick Thistle.

This season is quickly descending into farce.

Ach if they can't get it sorted out just throw the lot of them out of the competition now and we'll take on one of the Saints in the final.

[Scottish]

Is this true or just bad journalism?

Have a wild guess.

This from the SPL rule book according to Killie chairman Michael Johnston (who, I should add, is a lawyer)

"Club ceasing to play and be a member of the League

H5 If any Club in the League ceases to operate or to be member of the League for any reason, its playing record in the League may be expunged and the number of relegation places from the League shall be reduced accordingly."

The key word here is 'shall.'

Rules apart (and somehow I don't see clubs voting to change the above) the SPL will bend over backwards to make sure Gretna fulfil their fixtures and their record is not expunged. Not for their sake but to avoid the hell which will break loose if the title is won and lost in circumstances where Celtic's as yet unplayed match v Gretna could have made a difference.

How it affects the UEFA Cup race and the other end of the table is maybe not at the forefront of SPL thinking but I can't see John Boyle letting the matter rest if Gretna's record is expunged. Nor will St Mirren or Kilmarnock happily sit back and say 'Relegation fight? Bring it on.'

This is a league which hasn't relegated its botom side several times since its inception so to start thinking about relegating the second bottom team and have an 11-club league is madness.

What about all those guarantees Gretna were meant to have undertaken in order to be allowed in in the first place.

As far as 'fixture chaos' goes, at the time of this post there are exactly five outstanding SPL fixtures. On March 10th 1963 there were no fewer than 57 games in the old First Division needing to be rescheduled.

In 2008 no club is more than two games behind schedule and half the division have played all their allotted fixtures. In 1963 only St Mirren were two games behind. Every other club had played between five and ten matches fewer than they should have.

Not taking replays into account the Scottish Cup is one game behind schedule. In 1963 it was 16 games adrift - all four quarter-finals, all eight third round ties, three second round games and one first round.

There really shouldn't be a problem.

[lbb]

"Club ceasing to play and be a member of the League

H5 If any Club in the League ceases to operate or to be member of the League for any reason, its playing record in the League may be expunged and the number of relegation places from the League shall be reduced accordingly."

The key word here is 'shall.'

It's amazing what a quick consultation with the rulebook achieves. Perhaps journalists should try it some time!

As far as 'fixture chaos' goes, at the time of this post there are exactly five outstanding SPL fixtures. On March 10th 1963 there were no fewer than 57 games in the old First Division needing to be rescheduled.

This is certainly true but did mean that Rangers, for example, played a total of 21 matches from March to May - or a game roughly every 3 days for 10 weeks. In some cases, there was two days between matches, such as after the Scottish Cup Final against Celtic. There's no way such a schedule would be accepted now - although Richard Gordon suggested Rangers play Saturday-Monday-Thursday-Sunday, presumably because his brain was still frazzled from events at Pittodrie.

I'm pleased David Begg confirmed something, which the SPL should come out and say publicly, that there is no reason that the outstanding fixtures cannot be played after the split as the teams involved are not going to move from their present half of the table. It could so easily put a stop to the fixture pile-up stuff.

[Scottish]

Maybe they were a tougher breed. In 1938 Kilmarnock played in the Scottish Cup Final replay on the evening of Wednesday April 27th, a home league match on the evening of Friday April 29th and away at Tynecastle on the afternoon of Saturday April 30th. Three games at three different venues in three different towns/cities in under 72 hours. These were all part-time players and there was a Scottish Cup and relegation at stake.

[Scottish]

Maybe they were a tougher breed. In 1938 Kilmarnock played in the Scottish Cup Final replay on the evening of Wednesday April 27th, a home league match on the evening of Friday April 29th and away at Tynecastle on the afternoon of Saturday April 30th. Three games at three different venues in three different towns/cities in under 72 hours. These were all part-time players and there was a Scottish Cup and relegation at stake.

[Burnie_man]

Pah!

Between 28th May and 19th June 1948, Bo'ness United had to play 16 games in 22 days prior to the season closing, this included a run of 6 games on consecutive days. In the final two games of the season, they had to face Championship rivals Haddington Athletic home and away only requiring a point to win the title whereas Haddington required all four.

In the first match at Haddington, the home side won by the only goal, in the deciding & final match of the season at Newtown Park, the Hi-Hi took an early lead only for United to come storming back to win 5-1 and claim the title, a truly remarkable feat.

[Scottish]

What about Beith in the Scottish Cup in 1909? Having drawn their 1st round tie 1-1 v Broxburn Athletic away on 23rd January and followed that with a 0-0 draw at home in the replay on 30th January, this was their subsequent schedule.

3rd Feb 2nd replay, at Ibrox. 1-1 AET

4th Feb 3rd replay, at Ibrox. 1-1 AET

5th Feb 4th replay, at Love Street. 4-2 90 mins

6th Feb 2nd round v St Mirren at Love Street. 0-3 90 mins

[lbb]

They want their game against Aberdeen cancelled on Saturday because they don't have enough players and aren't sure if they have enough money to get there.

Two things should happen.

1) Aberdeen should tell them to go and get stuffed.

2) The SPL should grasp this situation by the scruff of the neck and boot them out of the league.

[Lisbon67]

Charming! Maybe Gretna should have told a certain other SPL side to GTF when they were begging for a postponement before the Lyons game.

[StAndrewsHMFC]

Thats a very interesting point, how much money do you think Gretna lost playing that game mid-week as opposed to on the Saturday? If they could have got an extra 1,500 (unlikely maybe) to this game there's £30k that they need for this weekend. Hmmmm...