Listening to BBC Radio Scotland this afternoon, Chick Young gave his verdict on the Gretna situation. We shouldn’t be too quick to judge…………………. Brooks Mileson a good bloke……….players and staff with mortgages……………it’s the fans I feel sorry for etc. etc. Well sorry Chick but (as if any proof were needed) you’re a naive fool if you believe that.
Mileson, who according to reports sold Arnott Insurance (Remember the pithy “We Arnott Insured” slogan?) for £17 million and various Albany companies for a reputed £47 million is apparently up Shit Creek and unable to find the paddle store (stories of many of his companies not filing accounts etc.). Chick Young thinks that it is simply schadenfreude for anyone to express the opinion that the whole of Scottish football from the governing bodies to the media to the (more gullible) supporters has been the subject of something that may not have been all that it seemed at face value. He has kind of missed the point! What about the fact that Gretna have been allowed to run up a reputed £4.5 MILLION (according to Sunday press reports) of debt? Will the companies and individuals who are owed this money ever see it? who knows?
As a normal rational human being, doesn’t the idea of a football club which owns a “stadium” which is just about the worst in the country, which five years ago was playing to crowds of less than 100 and which despite their current Premier League status can only attract 500 to a game (sorry this is a long sentence!) and which only a few months ago conducted a drastic cost cutting exercise, competing in the same league as Rangers and Celtic strike you as just too good to be true? No? then I know who you are! you’re Chick Young!!
Listen. The game is up. However much of a surprise this may be to you (Chick), a town with a population similar to that of Garelochhead (look it up on a map) cannot support and sustain premier league football! In fact it is the smallest populated town ever to stage premier league football in Scotland (previous record holder Dumbarton with about SEVEN TIMES the population of Gretna)
I do not wish Brooks Mileson any personal ill-will, particularly in his parlous state of health, but please! SFA! SPL! SFL! when the next club owner with grand ideas* comes along, please be a little more inquisitive!
* On this subject in 2005 Vladimir Romanov allegedly declared that Hearts would win the Champions League within 5 years!! I’ve been a bit busy – how are they doing?
Footnote: Read the Times Online article on the Gr£tna situation HERE
The irony is that the Mileson company which funds Gretna is called “Heartshape”. Their current plight would suggest a rather different form.
Filed under: Football, Rant | Tagged: brooks mileson, gretna
Obviously you’re right about the harsh realities. But Chick’s an “always look on the bright side of life” guy. It’s kinda in his JD isn’t it?
I suppose so Simon but Chick has been the prophet of doom as far as Hearts are concerned and he has shown no such optimism there. He bought the full Mileson fairy story, sorry fairytale and is still trying to justify it.