GRETNA officials will this weekend mull over the pros and cons of taking the SPL club into administration.
This option was one to emerge after a day-long meeting at Raydale Park with insolvency specialists Wilson Field Ltd.
With the club's finances in turmoil during the on-going ill health of benefactor Brookes Milleson and only junior level attendanc
es at their temporary Fir Park home, Gretna appears to be in financial melt down.
After a mere 501 fans attended Thursday night's Fir Park loss to Dundee United, Director of Football Mike Wadsworth raised the spectre of the club being unable to survive until the end of the season.
Such a scenario would throw the SPL into chaos but administration seems the most likely outcome for the Black and Whites, who sit 11 points adrift at the bottom of the table.
But, following yesterday's lengthy meeting at Raydale, it emerged that further talks and meetings will be held over the weekend, with the club hoping to make a formal statement regarding their future on Monday
Prior to yesterday's meeting Gretna Chief Executive Graeme Muir said he didn't think the situation was so bad that the club faced liquidation.
Although the players have been paid after a delay last month, no money is forthcoming from Mileson, who was discharged from hospital last month after being struck down with a brain infection
There is, within Raydale Park, a grim determination to soldier on until the end of the season. Staff wages are now being paid, but other creditors are known to be concerned at the club's dire financial position.
SPL officials are monitoring the situation as it affects the league's basement club. Greig Mailer, the SPL's Marketing and Communications Manager told us: "We are in daily touch with the club, who are keeping us appraised of the situation.
"All the indications we have are that Gretna will be able to complete their fixtures and we are certainly working towards achieving this. It would be a major concern to us as a league if one of our member clubs was to fold."
Mailer was at pains to stress he could not discuss the situation as it effects an individual club such as Gretna, but he did reveal the SPL has systems in place to assist a club which found itself in trouble.
"I can not and will not name individual clubs, but we as a league have in the past assisted member clubs who were in financial difficulties. We have the machinery in place whereby a club in financial dire straits could, with the approval of the league, draw on future income streams, such as its share of television monies.
"Again, I can not and will not name names, but this facility has been made available to clubs in the past and is open to any member club which may feel the need to use it – however – I cannot say whether or not Gretna has made or is making use of this facility."
The full article contains 509 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
