Grovesred

An international game shouldn't even be considered as part of the equation.

Club football is what's important, and it's the clubs that actually employ the players.

If Rangers can't beat Partick at the first time of asking, it's their tough luck. There are plenty of clubs up and down the country playing three games a week at present because they've had a bit of success in cup competitions and they're expected and/or forced to get on with it.

The overpaid prima donnas of TFOD should be no different, especially when they've got bigger squads than most to cope with it.

From what I understand of the Gretna situation is that Mileson bankrolled them and so there is no major Dundee-esque multi-million pounds of debt. Is there an exact figure around?

According to the Times article quoted earlier in this thread:

Current financial information on Gretna FC is not available from Companies House but the accounts for the year ending May 31 2006 shows a loss for that year of £1.87 million and accumulated losses of £4.14 million. The balance sheet to May 31, 2006 shows a deficiency of £4.085 million underpinned by funds advanced by Heartshape Ltd, Brooks Mileson’s company, of £4.95 million. At that date, Gretna received a letter of support from Heartshape that it would not request repayment of the £4.95 million until at least March 31 2008.

Interestingly, the accounts to December 31, 2005 for Heartshape Ltd, whose group activities include insurance broking, credit management, property development and building services, show a loss of £1.883 million and a balance sheet deficiency of £1.617 million.

In other words Gretna FC owes just short of £5 million to Heartshare, which is itself losing money hand over fist and likely to want repaying at the end of this month. The fact that both companies are owned by Mileson is neither here nor there - Gretna FC is a company that is trading on the verge of insolvency.

Whether someone is willing to pay off that £5million, plus the other debts, and still pay Mileson for Gretna (possibly a nominal figure such as £1) remains to be seen. I woud imagine it would be hard to find someone willing to do all that given that there appears to be very little in the way of collateral, with their, er, stadium being reportedly worth under £1 million.

When I first read the story, I have to confess I reacted in exactly the way the "journalist" who wrote the story would want.

I should have known better.

In the cold light of day, the story puts me in mind of an incident twenty-five+ years ago, when York played Bradford. I got separated from my young nephew, until a friend brought him to me bawling his eyes out - he'd been thumped by a Bradford fan.

Red mist descended, and I'm told (I don't remember any of it) that I sought this prat out and decked him. I don't know if he was older or younger than me, bigger or smaller. I do know that I stand by my actions that day (or what I know of them ) and would do so even if I got convicted, fined, banned, and villified by the media.

I'm sure the SPL will bend the rules and let Gretna play at Airdrie if needbe.

Now, if two clubs ever deserved to end up in bed together...

Im betting many people lost money betting on Arsenal today.

Combined with my woeful attempt at predicting all the SFL1 results, my colleagues' certainty that Boro would get humped meant another blank week for our inept betting syndicate.

What a way to run a railway

Please...

...will no-one think of the children?

I refer of course to former York City hard-man full back Graham Carr, whose son grew up to be Alan Carr of Ding Dong fame.

I place bets like this for a bit of entertainment, not in the expectation of winning, especially with my record of predicting football results. I find the dogs, speedway, and (curiously) York City happier hunting grounds when it comes to the hard-headed pursuit of cash at Mr Hill's expense.

Today's bet will net me a life-changing £70+ if it comes in

Mind you, a bloke from up the road got £1,000,000 for a 50p stake on the horses a week or two back. Interviewed on local radio, he claimed it wasn't a life-changing amount.

It would sure as hell change my life.

Friday is football betting syndicate day at work. With all my colleagues pondering whether Boro can get anything at Arsenal, or whether L**ds can overcome the mighty Port Vale, I've opted to stick with the SFL for my accumulator.

I've wagered a whole english pound on:

Hamilton to draw with Dundee

Saints to win at Livi

Partick to win at Morton

QoS to beat Dunfermline

Clyde to win at Stirling

Will I be able to retire on the winnings, or have I thrown my money down the drain

I wouldn't touch online poker with someone else's bargepole.

the panther missed a fair sitter for you guys last night what was the final score?

Won 3-2.

Good to rediscover the net ahead of Saturday's semi-final, but worrying that we're as good as ever at giving away stupid goals. We need to win by three clear goals to get to Wemberleeeee, so I'm not exactly brimming with confidence.

EDIT: Oh dear. We're not going to Wembley. Not, as I feared, because of our ability to hit self-destruct at the drop of a hat, but mostly because of one of the worst refs it's been my misfortune to see in nearly 40 years of watching professional football.

his booking the wrong player which saved one of their players from being sent off, the denial of two nailed-on penalties, failure to clamp down on blatant time-wasting, missing an elbow to a City player's head, etc etc all conspired to deny us the dream trip and a £300,000+ windfall which by this time next season could make the difference between survival and liquidation.

Bitter?

Too fecking right I am.

Rant over, normal service resumed.

mon the rushden

my flat mate and i have been thinking of doing something similar picking a low league english team and go down for the weekend to see a game. not got round to it as yet.

Rushden's is a nice ground, but with all respect to our new friend, I have to say there are better places for a weekend away than Irthlingborough

Naturally I'm biased, but anyone looking for a lower league English team should look no further than York

It's simply not true that Scots found within the city walls after dusk may be shot with a bow and arrow.

just missed a sitter too !

Nothing new there but as City manager Colin Walker said recently, "I don't employ him for his shooting ability"

I thought he had an indifferent game last night, but he's had a few games out with a hamstring problem, and doesn't seem to have regained full fitness. Hopefully he's saving it for Saturday's Trophy semi-final second leg...

He's out of contract at the end of the season and tbh I can't see us being able to match the wages he'll be offered by some of the Conference's bigger spenders.

He's come on in leaps and bounds during his time here, but whether he's improved enough to do a job at a higher level i wouldn't like to speculate.

Definitely one of my modern footballing heroes though, not least for speaking out against the Nazi BNP during last year's local elections, and despite him being a bit of a *** fan.

I'm not clear whether Mileson owns Gretna directly or whether his company owns it.

If his company owns it, it's conceivable running the football club at a loss could be to his advantage. Its losses could result in the parent company paying considerably less tax, while the loans could be generating a fair income in interest.

I'm not claiming that this is the case, just pointing out that there's more than one way to skin a cat and Mileson may not have been behaving as stupidly as some of us might like to think, so he might yet come up smelling of roses while Gretna's original fans lose the club they've loyally followed through thick and thin.

Do folk think its a perth thing to pronounce their 'ph's as an 'f' ? for example PerF and Fink?

It may be common in Perth but not unique to it. It certainly happens here in York as well, where it seems more common on the east side of the city on an estate that was initially populated with people moving out from an area inside the city walls that was predominantly Irish, so I don't know if there's some celtic thing going on there. Pure speculation on my part, and no proper evidence I'm afraid...

:LAUGH OUT LOUD:Well considering the team i follow and go week in week out down in england are Rushden & Diamonds, who are in the conference, i doubt it mate. :wink:

I would have liked to taunt you with a quick chorus of "1-0 to the boys from York" but thought better of it as we're currently 2-0 down at Torquay in the Trophy semi-final, with our Wembley dream fading fast.

I'm certainly looking to Saints to provide some glory this season...

Edit: finished 2-0 Fingers crossed both for Saints tomorrow, and City in next week's second leg (but I fear they'll need to be the biggest fingers you ever saw).

Feel free to get back on topic now.

"Panic (on the streets of Timperley)" by Frank Sidebottom, on his MySpace thingy.

At the moment, I'd have to say Dinnerladies.

And by way of a bit of name-dropping, I met Andrew Dunn (who plays Tony, and now Roger in Coronation St) when he had a post match pint (or two) in the York City social club after a recent game.

How did... Newcastle get in there?

Probably because the Newcastle shirt is the national costume of Tyneside and at £50 a throw, someone was bound to be getting filthy rich on the proceeds.

There could be a positive side to all this.

If it works, they might play more and more games abroad.

In time they might feck off altogether and never come back.

Fingers crossed.

Good: let's hope it distracts them good and proper over the next few weeks.

A resinstatement followed by damaging fixture congestion would be most welcome

I don't think there should be a place for them in Scotish football.

Well you needn't think we're having them back

Mileson and some of his cronies sniffed around York when we were in administration; fortunately the Supporters' Trust saw right through them and told them to go away, in no uncertain terms.

Today, Thrusday 24th January 2004 sees the 69th anniversary of canned beer making its first appearance, marketed by Krueger Brewery of Richmond, Virginia, US.

Now that IS a good news day

Never thought I'd see the day when I disagreed with the opening post of a thread entitled "Beer - Mmmmm" but putting beer in tins is a crime against nature.

...too expensive to fund out of public money.

There's always more than enough money for the things our rulers want to spend money on, such as wars to protect oil profits, etc.

If there's not enough money in the public purse to give today's kids the sort of education my generation took for granted, I'd suggest that the super-rich be made to begin paying their fair share of taxes again; they're paying less now than when Thatcher was in Downing Street, whilst the rest of us are paying more, and getting poorer services in return.

Tax and spend? Damned right - tax the rich, and spend on the poor, says I

easy get blotto and buy a haggis supper on the way hame

Cant get such a thing in this neck of the woods, so it'll be a trip to Sainsbury's for some haggis, home to eat it, then out on the piss, steering clear of the Burns' Night ceilidh in a local church hall.

Big pay day for Havantaclueville!

Something in the order of £900,000 I believe.

I'm not bitter.

Having watched York play Liverpool four times in cup ties in the mid-eighties, and witnessed some (quite literally) bloody awful behaviour, I don't have much time for media stereotypes of Liverpool fans involving witty terrace banter coupled with a deep knowledge of football, and respect for opponents*.

However, previous form doesn't mean that they were primarily responsible for the Hillsborough disaster, still less that they somehow deserved it.

Going back to the beginning of the thread, we all know very well that some football fans are pillocks. Some of us contributing to this thread might even, on occasion, have behaved less than perfectly

However, the behaviour of a minority, or our opinions of certain clubs and supporters should not be allowed to lead to the police being given carte blanche to walk all over the game and its supporters.

* the numerous pints bought for me by embarrassed Liverpool fans after we were denied victory at Anfield by a VERY dodgy refereeing decision shows that as at all clubs, some fans do possess these qualities